Sakura's Home
by Winter Ashby
Summary: Sakura was kicked out of Konoha five years ago but now has been asked to return… She will meet old friends and be faced with the consequences of her actions. Future AU Sakura centric. No pairings, and you need to be up to date in the manga and series.
1. Home?

Hi, I'm Winter Ashby, but you can call me Ash. :)**  
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**Title: **Sakura's Home  
** Author:** Winter Ashby (_rosweldrmr_)  
**Disclaimer: **Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto-sama.** I don't own anything** about Naruto, this is just for fun and if I did own Naruto I wouldn't have to right this, because I would have a team of very talented people turning this into a saga right now...  
**Rating: **K+  
**Warning**: this not only has spoilers until Manga 270ish, but it's kind of required for you to know what's going on. I use a lot of the Gaara mission, just made it AUish.  
**Summary: **Sakura was kicked out of Konoha five years ago but now has been asked to return… She will meet old friends and be faced with the consequences of her actions. Future AU Sakura centric. No pairings, and you need to be up to date in the manga and series.  
**Authors Notes:** This is a Sakura-centric story. There are NO pairings, sorry fangirls, I know, I know. But I wanted this to be about the story, not the pairing. I really enjoyed coming up with this plot so I hope to be done pretty soon... ehem that's a lie. This is a REVISION of the first chapter. I am going back through and editing out all of the Japanese words that are not essential, since I've gotten so many reviews that say they don't like it. I suppose I have to bend to the will of the readers. grumble, grumble

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**I dedicate this SpiritualEnergy.**

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**Chapter 1 – Home?**

Short, vibrant pink hair swayed in the rising moonlight. The silver light that shone from the moon gave the once-upon-a-time leaf an ethereal quality. The deep red of her shirt was in stark contrast to the deep green, almost black of the woods to her back in the night. But there was something new in the familiar jade-green eyes. There was a fear, yet to be discovered for a past too painful to forget.

She walked, alone with just the flapping of her worn brown coat to keep her company. Her tattered black boots pushed against the winding path that had been left un-traveled for five years, relying on memory to carry her back. They groaned and squeaked in protest as the metal shin protectors underneath the leather rubbed against the ties; and her black training shorts shown just slightly from under the tan of the feminine throw-away skirt that clung to her pale flesh. She was a strange figure, wandering through all too familiar scenery.

Sakura slowly approached the gates of the village that she left behind so many years ago. They were less menacing than she remembered them, but then again, the last time she'd seen them was when she was asked to leave Konoha and never return. Perhaps it was that memory, burned into her mind that made these large wooden doors appear just a little more ominous in her head. For now, in the soft autumn moonlight, they seemed to be proverbial, and inviting. Strange that such a powerful symbol of her home village's strength, a symbol that kept her away for five years was now comforting.

"Five years." She mused to herself in the dead of night as she sat, back sliding down the wall, and prepared herself to wait until morning. Even if they had sent a special representative of the hidden village to find her and request her return, she didn't want to just barge into the village in the middle of the night. She settled in, and began to control her breathing. It was so natural for her to meditate now that she almost immediately slipped into the thoughtless state of ready-alertness.

She'd learned in her travels that it was always better to expect the worst, even if she was in the shadow of a powerful hidden village. Her life had been threatened so many times, at this point; she was just waiting for someone to attack. It wasn't the easiest way to live, she could have given up on being a ninja a long time ago, but with her expert medical training, she'd been able to help countless people in her travels.

It seemed like no time had passed at all when the nostalgic sound of song birds in the distant tree invaded her senses, and she was jolted back to reality. It was nearly daybreak, and she stood, stretching her arms and legs. She felt refreshed, but still weary. _But when you return back to a place that used to be your home, this is probably what it's supposed to feel like._

Gingerly, she stepped over the threshold into the village and breathed the air of sweet memories. It had been five years since she was kicked out, but even before that she'd taken to seclusion some distance from the village to train on exact chakra control, and the seal.

She swept a passing finger over the green tattoo that adorned her face. At first, it was small and almost unnoticeable. But over the years her chakra build-up increased exponentially. In addition to that, she devised a system of control that allowed her too use it without fear of shortening her own life, as opposed to Tsunade-sama's. But to do that, the mark became more like a brand than a seal.

Then entire right side of her face was covered in the green, winding seal. She'd gotten accustom to it over time, and now she couldn't picture herself without it. It reminded her of a vine, and that was perfectly fine, considering that the method that allowed her to use it without fear was the law of conservation of energy.

It was this law; she came to understand that ruled the world. When a shinobi created a seal, they used their own charka and thus the energy within themselves. This gives way to a limited amount of chakra, and every ninja's weak point; even for someone like Naruto, who had a seemingly infinite amount of chakra. But Sakura discovered that even though he was a Jinchuuriki and the famed demon that inhabited his body was nearly invincible, there was still a limit to what it was capable of, trapped inside the body of a human.

So, it with her medical training she discovered that every living thing had a flow of energy, not just ninjas. With only a limited amount of chakra, she perfected the ability to use the energy from the earth to heal, defend, and attack with; rather than her own. It was because of this that she was able to do so many miraculous things, like making Tsunade-sama's incredible strength look like a child's; and how she was able to heal people that were on the brink of death. She never lost power while she was healing, and she was never drained afterward. It was what made the strength of her genjutsu and taijutsu almost unrivaled.

But it was also because of this jutsu that she was cast out of her home village. It was considered a forbid ninjutsu; because of the massive power it granted its user and the possibility of using the method as an attack and draining not just the chakra, but the life from an opponent. It was deemed too dangerous and she was ordered to abandon it. But she refused, and because she wasn't able to control the jutsu then, she killed one of her comrades. It was then that she became a wanted criminal. But because it was unintentional, and she assumed that Tsunade-sama could not easily order the execution of her former apprentice, she was told to leave and never return.

It was also the reason that her life was targeted so often. If she was killed and her body studied, her precious ninjutsu could be stolen. She'd even encountered a few of Orochimaru's followers on her journeys. He'd love to get his hands on her corpse to study and steal her jutsu. The first time she realized he wanted her ability; she was overwhelmed with a sick kind of joy. When they had first met in the forest during her Chuunin exam, he didn't even give her a second glance. But now, he desired her for her power, and she was strangely satisfied with herself for that. Although the appeal of going along to find Sasuke was evident, ultimately she decided she would get him back on her own. She wouldn't sell her soul to a monster like Sasuke had done. She would do it on her own terms.

Sakura was in quiet contemplation when the sudden prick at the back of her neck alerted her senses of a powerful chakra moving toward her. There was something familiar about the palatable blue energy that seeped out of the ninja's skin. She stopped in her tracks and waited the fractions of a second it took for the person to appear behind her.

"Aburame Shino-san" she spoke quietly. Even after many years, she wasn't surprised that she still recognized the individual signatures of the shinobi she grew up with. There was a low chuckle from behind her and she turned, finding him much like he was the last time she'd seen him.

"Haruno Sakura." He stated simply as he stood six feet from her. Poised to attack at any moment. She recognized the features from so many battles she'd had in the past, as well as the fact that the last time she'd seen him it was in the same position he was now. "I thought the provisions of your banishment were made quite clear five years ago."

She could feel the bugs in his body begin to vibrate with energy as he prepared for a fight. She sighed lightly and bowed deeply in respect. "I'm truly sorry, Aburame-san..." she could feel the unrest of his hive begin to settle and she felt relieved herself. It was a long time since she'd battled a fellow Leaf ninja, and she wasn't eager to repeat the experience. "But, I was contacted by Pakkun and requested to immediately return for an urgent matter." She spoke sincerely of her encounter with her former sensei's summoning dog as she kept her eyes fixed on the ground in front of her. She bowed even lower as she felt his approach.

She lifted her head and reached into the inside breast flap of her outfit. She could feel the tension return to his posture in an instant. She slowly removed her hand, bringing with it the scroll, still sealed with symbol that Kakashi was known for. She dutifully handed it over to Shino and bowed once again.

He took it, and she could feel the energy building once more. As he opened it to read what the contents were she straightened herself out. It was then that she had a chance to really look at him. He was quite a bit taller than he was before, and his hair was longer now so that it fell over his eyes in the early morning sun. It wasn't until that moment that she noted the missing sunglasses. He looked strange without them; after all, she'd never seem him without them before. But instead, she noticed the white mask that was tied hap hazardously to his belt loop. It didn't surprise her one bit to see that he was now an ANBU member.

He rolled the scroll and handed it back to her. "I take it you are not aware of the situation?" he questioned, dangerously. She was taken aback by this, even though she'd been respectful, he was still hostile. She could feel the bug's vibration from where she stood, and she was painfully aware of the massive growth in his chakra output. She had become quite skilled at sensing an opponent's power level by the subtle vibrations that their chakra intensity released into the air around them. It was very closely related to the law of density and volume. The more powerful they were – the more air was displaced around their body by crackling energy.

She tried to ignore his clear aggression and focus on the question he'd asked. "No, Aburame-san. Pakkun just told me that it was urgent that I return." She stood, somewhat uncomfortably in his presence, and waited for an explanation that obviously wasn't going to come. After a few moments of silence and calculating her options, she finally spoke. "What's going on?"

"Uchiha Sasuke is dead, and Hatake Kakashi is near death."

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**Foot Notes**:

Just to go on a little rant here about fan-Japanese. If you're not interested... skip ahead. This is totally irrelevant.

I just wanted to point out real fast, that anime-obsessed Americans aren't the only ones who try to emulate another language and often fail. Watch Bleach and see how often they try and use Spanish words, or even Naruto in the filler episode when Ino is so impressed that a filler character can speak 'American'. So before you go judging me for sucking at sounding out Japanese let me just say that I am a failure at learning languages, but that doesn't stop me from really appreciating the beauty of it. And just for fun, try watching the episode of Fullmetal Alchemist when Ed gets his certification, and pause it so you can read the certificate he gets. It's absolute nonsense. Just random English words with no meaning whatsoever. So... now that I've said that, I still stand by the Japanese that I had to take out, and whatever I left in I feel is completely essential.

That's it. I'm done.


	2. Change

**Title: **Sakura's Home  
** Author:** Winter Ashby (_rosweldrmr_)  
**Disclaimer: **Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto-sama.** I don't own anything** about Naruto, this is just for fun and if I did own Naruto I wouldn't have to right this, because I would have a team of very talented people turning this into a saga right now...  
**Rating: **K+  
**Warning**: this not only has spoilers until Manga 270ish, but it's kind of required for you to know what's going on. I use a lot of the Gaara mission, just made it AUish.  
**Summary: **Sakura was kicked out of Konoha five years ago but now has been asked to return… She will meet old friends and be faced with the consequences of her actions. Future AU Sakura centric. No pairings, and you need to be up to date in the manga and series.  
**Authors Notes:** Thanks to SE for the helpful suggestions and comments. I know this isn't the typical FF story, what with the no romance but I think it's worth reading. I put a lot of time into researching everything so that it could be as accurate as possible. Please let me know if I've made any mistakes so I can change them. We're starting to see some other familiar faces...

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**Chapter 2 – Change**

His voice was low and even. For the first time in her life, she knew that when she refused to give up on the forbidden seal and was forced to leave the village – it was the wrong decision. Because even though not a day went by without thinking of the Konoha ninja that died by her hand, she always told herself that it was to save Sasuke and all the other people she could. But she recognized now that no matter how strong she was, she would never be able to save everyone.

She had developed the technique during the years when Sasuke was away with Orochimaru in the hopes that someday she would be able to lift the cursed seal that plagued him. But now that ambition was useless. Ever since she'd been visited by Kakashi's tracking dog, she had a sinking ache in her heart that wouldn't quell.

"What? How?" she let the shock coat her words as she felt the world begin to spin around her. "Shino-kun, what happened?" formalities were lost as she fell back into her childhood honorific for a fellow villager of the Hidden Leaf.

His head lowered and he sighed deeply. "I will explain on the way, I must take you to Kakashi-sensei." And without a moment's hesitation, he took off, bounding from rooftop to building top along the main road of the village. And even though it'd been years since she'd done it, it was like second nature. She followed without a second thought, catching up with him in no time, tuning in to hear his explanation past the whooshing of the wind against her face.

"Why didn't Tsunade-shishou heal him?" she questioned intently as her feet carried her along the familiar path to her former teacher's home.

"It is not an ailment that she can cure. The Mangekyou Sharingan that he developed has begun to degrade his chakra. He is lost in another dimension of genjutsu so intense that he can't escape. He has been like this for nearly two weeks." He paused for a moment, almost as if he was trying to figure out how to say the next part. It was eerie to think that Shino had to consider anything. She always remembered him as eloquent and poised. Nothing surprised him, and he showed no sign of emotion, like all great shinobi.

"He is killing himself." She finished for him, understanding the situation more than she cared to admit. In her research about her seal and Sasuke, she discovered many hidden secrets of the Uchiha clan. She knew what the Mangekyou Sharingan was, as well as how one achieved it through the lost Uchiha scrolls. It was always quite a mystery how Kakashi was able to achieve it, seeing as he didn't murder his best friend, as far as she knew.

She knew about the affects it had on the user, as well as what happened when it was used against someone. She had personal experience, being trapped in Uchiha Itachi's doujutsu Genjutsu Tsukiyomi once in the past. However, even the Mange Sharingan that he used relatively easily took its toll over time. The Sharingan was indeed a formidable kekkei genkai, but it was also one of the most cursed that she was aware of.

"Yes." Shino responded dutifully beside her as they approached Kakashi's apartment. In only a few more seconds of jumping, she found herself standing at his door, suddenly surrounded by four new ANBU members. Even with the masks, she could tell who they were. The familiar flow of energy from each was just as unmistakable as Shino's, even with the slight changes over time; they were still her old Ninja Academy classmates.

She turned to the one nearest the door, taller than she remembered him, and his signature long brown hair was hidden under the ANBU cloak, but with that chakra there was no doubt about it, "Hyuuga Neji-san." She addressed him formally and bowed slightly. She could feel the sheer hatred dripping from his silent form. She was reserved in his presence, and rightfully so. She knew his distain for her was completely justified. She turned quickly to address the figure that stood next to Neji.

He was nothing like she remembered him, much slimmer but there was still a faint smell of potato chips that lingered in the air, and she was sure that his chakra was the only one that had a distinct taste as it passed through her mouth in the air. "Akimichi Chouji-san." She bowed again and even though she was sure ANBU members weren't supposed to identify themselves, she could see a slight nod of his head. She was grateful for the gesture but didn't let her eyes linger.

The next person standing directly behind her struck her with an odd sensation. It was the lack of chakra that gave him away. It had been years since she'd been in his presence, and it was almost completely different. He was quite tall, and even through the layers of fabric, she could see that he had become massively strong. It was the bandages on his hands that made her absolutely certain. "Lee-san." She addressed him less formally, considering their past and gave a weak half-hearted smile that only slightly tugged at the corners of her lips. It was a sad smile that said everything she couldn't at that moment.

Finally she turned to the last member, almost perplexed at the charka flowing from them. It was aggressive, and angry. She recognized the feel of, but the sheer volume that was being displayed signified an incredibly strong person. "Yamanaka Ino, is that you Ino-chan?" she questioned quietly, knowing the answer when the obvious woman sighed and turned from her to the door. It was defiantly Ino, but there was something so different in her demeanor and aura, Sakura barely recognized her.

"I suppose there's no need for these." The woman commented and removed the white cat mask, revealing a beautiful face framed with perfectly blond hair. She'd grown even more beautiful in the years that passed, but now there was something new in her eyes. There used to be the signature determination and competitive streak that Sakura recalled so well, but now her blue eyes were peppered with sadness.

She turned when she heard the rustling of fabric from behind her and to the other sides. Sure enough, the rest of them had now discarded their masks. It amazed her how much Lee looked like Gai-sensei. But even with the bobble eyebrows and round eyes, he had a quiet pain that she didn't remember being there the last time she saw him. It seemed that much had happened in the little village in the time she'd been gone.


	3. Goodbyes

**Title: **Sakura's Home  
** Author:** Winter Ashby (_rosweldrmr_)  
**Disclaimer: **Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto-sama.** I don't own anything** about Naruto, this is just for fun and if I did own Naruto I wouldn't have to right this, because I would have a team of very talented people turning this into a saga right now...  
**Rating: **K+  
**Warning**: this not only has spoilers until Manga 270ish, but it's kind of required for you to know what's going on. I use a lot of the Gaara mission, just made it AUish.  
**Summary: **Sakura was kicked out of Konoha five years ago but now has been asked to return… She will meet old friends and be faced with the consequences of her actions. Future AU Sakura centric. No pairings, and you need to be up to date in the manga and series.  
**Authors Notes:** Yeah, chapter 3. :does a little dance: Okay, I'm better. I think is coming along pretty well. Let me all know what you think... please? Also, I have the distinct impression that my description and title suck, please let me know if you have any suggestions. Arigatou! And check the end of the chapter for a quick little dictonary to my Naruto terms. Let me know if I've misspelled any japanese words... I'm trying my best. Thank you!

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Chapter 3 – Goodbyes**

Neji was much the same, with his strange and unnerving byakugan was unchanged. The last time she'd seen him, he had swore vengeance and she was sure that he was restraining himself to the best abilities now. Although, he was taller and obviously stronger now – he seemed to be less hostile. Perhaps five years had dwindled some of the contempt he had for her. Even though she knew she deserved his hate and so much more for what she'd done.

However, the biggest change was Chouji, she noted as her eyes traced the huge scar that traced the length of the left side of his face. It was deep and thick, and from the looks of it, it was about three and a half years old. It cut his trademark swirls diagonally, but he was quite handsome now, in spite of the scar. In fact, it seemed to give him more depth than she remembered.

She could feel Ino behind her coming closer. She felt unease because of the anger that was practically dripping from her old friend. "None of this would have happened if you would have just given up on that evil jutsu." Her words were hushed but heavy as she passed by to stand in between Chouji and Neji. At first Sakura was sure she was referring to the death of Sasuke, after all she had also been in love with him for years. But it had been eight years since he first left, could she still be in love with him?

It was then that Sakura noticed how closely she stood to Chouji, and the way their charka seemed to mold and swirl with each other's. She noted the matching butterfly that was carefully embroidered onto the thumb sleeve of their gloves. It wasn't until then that Sakura understood Ino's words. She followed Ino's gaze and looked back to Chouji and the scar that marred his face. And it was true, if Sakura had stayed in the village, she would have been able to heal him with no problem, even without the seal.

"Ino-chan…" Sakura's voice was low and apologetic, but she was stopped by a swift wave of the hand from Chouji.

"Stop." He insisted with authority and a new kind of confidence. "Please, enter." He gestured to the looming door to her right. His formal request sounded more like an order, and she knew it was.

"Yes." she knew that whatever was on the other side of the door wasn't her teacher anymore, just a body. His soul was lost in oblivion, drifting in pain in a dimension of everlasting torment. She shuddered at the memory of her encounter with Itachi. It was something you can't ever forget.

She moved to the door and was met by Shino. Apparently, they didn't trust her alone with him. ANBU wasn't there to help Kakashi; they were there to protect him from her. She was a wandering ninja now, and that made her a threat to Konoha. "I will accompany you, the rest will remain outside." He opened the door and gave her a hard sideways stare. "Know this, criminal…" he let the ominous, foreboding title hang in the air around them for a moment. "…if you try anything, we will not hesitate to kill you." He was cold and just as formal as she remembered him. He was also the most straightforward, calling her by what she was instead of her name. He wasn't going to let her forget that she was an outlaw in her own home village.

"Understood." She said as the crossed the threshold into the darkness of the small apartment. There were wires and IV's hanging around the room. She was also thrown back by the almost overwhelming nostalgic smell of his apartment. It had been five long years since she'd seen him, and she thought she'd forgotten what his chakra felt like. But as soon as she was in his home again, it all came rushing back.

Pictures of better times, and the golden days of team seven came at her with an almost devastating speed. She was thirteen again, waiting for Kakashi outside his door, because he was late again. She was posing for the picture that still sat above his bed next to the one of his genin comrades under the leadership of the Yondaime. She was standing on the roof of the hospital while Kakashi told her that everything would go back to the way it was before. Then she was alone, standing on a hill, the sun on her face and the wind blowing through her short hair the day before she was kicked out of Konoha when he had come to her, begging that she stop her research and come back with him.

She staggered a bit, and it was only Shino's hand on her back that jolted her back into the reality of where she was. She glanced back up at him, giving him a similar sideways expression that he seemed to understand. He didn't say anything but quickly withdrew his hand and leaned against one of the far walls.

"You may examine him if you wish." He instructed her, serious and a distinct air of justified authority. "However, you are not to perform any medical jutsu, whatsoever." The second part of his order is what got her the angriest. Here she was: the most powerful medical ninja in any of the hidden villages, her deeds were legendary. And she was being told not to help the dying man, of whom she knew well.

But she didn't say anything; she just slowly approached the bed and sat in the chair that waited for her. She wondered how many people had sat in this chair in the two weeks he'd been like this, certainly there were many visitors.

Even in the dark, she could make out the dark blue of his face mask and the shimmer silver of his hair. It was even longer now, lying on the pillow around him. He looked pale and fragile. Gently, she laid a hand on his, with a momentary glance back a Shino who was watching intently, and nodded in approval. Knowing that Shino wouldn't been the one watching her unless he was qualified, she didn't bother to justify the charka that leaked from her hands as she began to use her own energy to determine the extent of his injuries. And considering she wasn't being tackled, he'd learned to recognize her chakra from that which she used from other living things.

That didn't surprise her either, considering he was also part of her interrogating team, he was quite aware of her history, jutsu's and chakra control. She concentrated her own chakra as she scanned his internal organ, brains, the synaptic functions, and everything else. When she finally opened her eyes, she saw the slight remnant of a blue light fading. She turned back to Shino, and to her surprise, past his long hair she could clearly read shock in his eyes.

"What was that?" he questioned her fiercely

"I released the stored chakra from my seal…" she touched the tattoo that covered her face. "…it's not just for looks you know." She commented lightly, trying desperately to ebb some of the aggression that was building in the room. Even though she'd had many battles and killed countless people, she didn't relish the thought of fighting. It was always better to avoid a confrontation, if possible.

"What did you find?" His change in topic obviously meant that he wasn't going to kill her. The last time he'd seen her, she only had a small diamond on her right temple, so it wasn't unusual to see that he was oblivious as the meaning of the symbols that covered her face now.

"He's dying, slowly, and painfully. His internal organs are beginning to shut down, and if nothing is done, he will die in another two days." She was sure, instant, and professional. Even though there was a little thirteen year old inside her screaming that this was HER Kakashi-sensei and that she should be more upset.

"R… Rin." A slow a tortured breath left Kakashi's mouth and Sakura's head whipped around suddenly as his hand also closed around hers. "O…Obi…Obito!" his scream was louder now and she turned to find an apathetic Shino still leaning against the wall.

Sensing her rising anger, he spoke. "He's been like that the whole time. Crying out for Uzumaki-kun first, then it was Obito and Rin. He even called for Sasuke and you a few times."

"He's trapped in a torture dimension of his own mind. He can't escape and it's killing him. That eye is killing him." She looked down at his exposed, scared eye. "It must be removed."

"You misunderstand, Sakura." He says calmly, as if she were a child. He leans forward and walks to stand above her next to the bed. "You weren't brought here to save him. You were called here so you could say your goodbyes."


	4. History

**Title: **Sakura's Home  
** Author:** Winter Ashby (_rosweldrmr_)  
**Disclaimer: **Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto-sama.** I don't own anything** about Naruto, this is just for fun and if I did own Naruto I wouldn't have to right this, because I would have a team of very talented people turning this into a saga right now...  
**Rating: **K+  
**Warning**: this not only has spoilers until Manga 270ish, but it's kind of required for you to know what's going on. I use a lot of the Gaara mission, just made it AUish.  
**Summary: **Sakura was kicked out of Konoha five years ago but now has been asked to return… She will meet old friends and be faced with the consequences of her actions. Future AU Sakura centric. No pairings, and you need to be up to date in the manga and series.  
**Authors Notes:** In response to all my reviewers, thank you so much. I'm so happy to see that people are taking an interest in this. If anyone is wondering how long this little fic is going to be, I'm estimating around 23 chapters right now. (Because that my favorite number!) I think that about covers everything so far. This chapter focuses a little on Kakashi's back-story. You definitely should know all this by now, cause if not, you're totally gonna get lost later on. The manga is part of my canon. Okay, I'm done - begin... NOW!

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**Chapter 4 – History**

"What do you mean, 'say my goodbyes'!?" she stood, careful not to jar the unconscious man and tenderly releasing his hand. "We can't just let him die! All we have to do is remove the Sharingan. He can't handle the effects of it." She was angry now, and the pure rage that shot through her veins was like acid. It was painful and satisfying. Here was the reaction her inner self craved so desperately.

"Are you aware of how he received that sharingan?" he asked her calming, completely ignoring her pain and anger. Her silence was misconstrued as ignorance, so he continued. "In my many missions with Hatake Kakashi-san I have learned many things about his past. That sharingan of his was the dying gift of an Uchiha who was a member of his team. On more than one occasion, I've heard him make references to Obito being much like Naruto-kun."

Sakura looked up at him, not sure where this story was going, but it was slowly curbing her anger before she lost control.

"It was on his first mission as a jounin that he lost his eye. The last member of his team, during the Third Great Ninja Wars, was a girl – Rin." He looked down at her, with poignant concentration. It wasn't until that moment that she saw the strain in his eyes and heard the slight, almost non-existent quiver in his voice. In fact, if she hadn't been straining to hear it at that moment, she was sure she would have missed it. He respected Kakashi, so she nodded and listening, realizing that this history lesson must be relevant.

"He has also mentioned to me before, in the years you've been exiled, that you reminded him of her. She was also a medical shinobi." He looked away then, preparing to tell her the difficult part. She always knew that Kakashi was a sad man. He had regret seeping from his pores. But she'd never heard the whole story. But apparently, in her absence, Shino got to know him quite well.

"She was taken leaving Obito and Kakashi to decide what to do. His father's legacy weighed heavy on him, but in the end – he choose to abandon the mission to save his teammate." _No wonder Kakashi was so sad._ Not only had he lived through the shame of his father, of which she was familiar, and the Ninja Wars, he also endured constant reminders of everything he lost. But it was the startling similarities between her childhood and his that struck her as ironically depressing.

"Obito was killed. But before he died, he passed on his kekkei genkai to Kakashi. It was Rin who preformed the transplantation. That sharingan is was what gave him the ability to perform his only original jutsu. You see, that sharingan may not have been his from birth but it is rightfully his. And just before he slipped into his own genjutsu tsukiyomi, he made me promise that he would be buried with that sharingan."

She remembered his quiet mourning in the wake of the third's passing but it wasn't until now that she really understood. He lost his sensei, the Fourth, and all the members of his team. The quiet pain that she'd always tried to ignore sweeping off him in the past came crashing down on her with an infinite connection.

She shook her head, even with all the new information; she wasn't just going to give up on him. "But he doesn't have to die!" she moved past him, gracefully and pulled the door open with a loud thud. The morning sun on her face in the hall gave her chills.

She felt four pairs of eyes on her, ready to pounce at any moment. Ino's face greeted her with a sad kind of resentment. "You knew didn't you, you knew and you were just going to let him die. You all knew why I was called here, I can save him. What good is all this damn chakra now? Sasuke's dead! At least let me save what's left of my team, he doesn't need to die. Not like this, not alone, lost and in pain." She looked from one pair of indifferent eyes to the next. Each person seemed less willing to meet her gaze than the first.

"You know I'm right!" she marched over and stood right in front of Lee. "Please, just let me save him!" she looked deep into his eyes and was surprised to find anger hidden in his rounded edges.

He took a step closer and noted how small she felt being so close to someone with that much raw power. Even without any chakra, she could feel his power emanating off him in angry waves. "Say your farewell and leave this village, Sakura. You've caused enough trouble." Then, with only a second of moving air was she aware that he'd left. She turned, mouth hanging open for some kind of sympathy from her old friends.

Finding none, she fortified her emotions, chastising herself for showing any sentiment. That wasn't who she was anymore. She was hard, cold, and emotionless – like all great shinobi. Finding no solace in the company, she sprang off toward the Hokage's head quarters. She didn't make more that three seconds before Shino was right along side her.

"You are no longer a member of this village, Sakura. You can't just go wherever you please." She could feel his restless bugs begin to stir so she stopped on a rooftop that overlooked the mountains in the distance. Tsunade-sama's face was beginning to look more natural, proper. It was hard to get used to at first, because she'd grown up with four faces, and now there were five. But imagining the powerful faces carved into the cliff for so many years in her mind made it seem like maybe there had always been five sets of stone eyes keeping watch over Konoha.

"Why did Pakkun track me down if all you wanted me to do was sit around and watch him die!?" she accused him angrily, at this point she was ready for a fight. "You could have just notified me after he passed, so I wouldn't have had to go through this!"

"I had no knowledge of your summoning, and if I was involved in the decision process, I would not have invited you back into this village." Shino stated plainly with all the contempt he still held for her. Even though it had been five years, she knew that such wounds that she'd made couldn't be healed. She would never be forgiven for what she took, and she didn't want to be. That face still haunted her in her nightmares and made her train even harder so that something like that would never happen again.

"Then who called me here!?" she asked from her perched position on the middle of the steep rooftop.

"I did." She turned to see a very familiar orange jacket and blazing yellow hair.

* * *

**Acknowledgements**:

So-kun - you make me more motivated to write!

To Cesia and Chi: thank you for taking an interest, and I've finally taken your advice and gotten ride of the Japanese.

To WolfRainSS: I know, I know - but bear with the mystery for a while. You won't find out what happened until around chapter 13ish. Sorry! Also, in response to pairings. There will be none. I just wanted this be like Sakura's epic tale. It's like Cesia and Chi said, there are a lot of these kinds of fics for Naruto and Sasuke. Well I thought it was about time for the chicks to get kick butt and angsty, cause you know... girls equal angst!

To DeliciousAmbiguity: I'm glad you're getting so into it. It's so nice to see that people like my plot development. Yay for you! Enjoy more... shovels more fic in your general direction.


	5. Mistaken

**Title: **Sakura's Home  
** Author:** Winter Ashby (_rosweldrmr_)  
**Disclaimer: **Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto-sama.** I don't own anything** about Naruto, this is just for fun and if I did own Naruto I wouldn't have to right this, because I would have a team of very talented people turning this into a saga right now...  
**Rating: **K+  
**Warning**: this not only has spoilers until Manga 270ish, but it's kind of required for you to know what's going on. I use a lot of the Gaara mission, just made it AUish.  
**Summary: **Sakura was kicked out of Konoha five years ago but now has been asked to return… She will meet old friends and be faced with the consequences of her actions. Future AU Sakura centric. No pairings, and you need to be up to date in the manga and series.  
**Authors Notes:** Yeah, school's out so I can finally focus on my fics a little more. Good for me. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has reviewed this, and all those who have fav'ed or are watching - you make my world shine. Well, I guess that's all for now. Let me know what you think... :)

**

* * *

Chapter 5 – Mistaken**

The deep, baritone voice resonated in her ears and nearly made her lose balance on the roof. Even though it had changed quite a bit in the time she'd known him, she still knew who it was. But there was something quite different now. It was Naruto's voice, but she couldn't feel any familiar chakra coming from him. There was no feeling of the kyuubi that she'd grown so accustomed to feel seeping out of him in filtered fragments of immense power.

"Naruto?" she stood silent, unsure if this was in fact the real thing. The air swirling around him crackled with a new kind of chakra. It didn't feel anything like it used to, and she doubted that he was Naruto. She took a defensive position and began to feel her own comforting charka build in her veins, ready to take over at any second. "You're not Naruto, who are you?" she questioned the stranger intently. She had been taken completely off guard, she hadn't even sensed him, obviously he'd learned to control his chakra output – something that she recalled Naruto was incapable of.

"Sakura-chan, you don't even recognize your old teammate?" the imposter perfectly imitated Naruto, right down to the sing-song pronunciation of her name when he spoke to her. It was unnerving, and she was growing increasingly more agitated in his presence.

"Aburame-san, who is this?" she never took her eyes off the familiar form, and kept her hand hovering just above her kunai pouch.

She watched in horrified amazement as the replica Naruto's faced dropped in a perfect duplication of what Naruto would have done. His pout was so familiar and she could feel part of her chakra ebb in the sight of his shinning blue eyes. But she was still weary.

"He is indeed Naruto." Shino's words hung in the air like a heavy mist. It weighed on her as his voice echoed through her mind. There was no way this stranger could be Naruto, she'd grown up with him. If there was anyone's chakra that she was more familiar with, he was dead.

"Impossible! There's no way he's Naruto!" she couldn't stand still any longer, but in a flash of speed that rivaled Lee's fifth gate, she leapt forward, drawing a kunai while in mid air. But before she could get close to him, she was stopped in an instant and her feet were locked to the rooftop. She was quivering with anger when she opened her eyes to see Chouji standing in front of her, his hand wrapped firmly around hers and the kunai. She was rooted firmly where she stood, unable to move, but it wasn't Chouji who stopped her. She only knew of one person capable of this kind of containment.

"Yo." the familiar voice came from behind her. Her inability to move her head even a fraction of an inch, the feel of the chakra that surrounded her, the voice, and the perfectly timed counter with Chouji all undoubtedly pointed to one person.

"Nara Shikamaru-san." Her voice was almost glad. Now, at least there was going to be some justice for the imposter that was imitating Naruto. "That's not Naruto, it's a fraud!" she was nearly shouting now, and she didn't care. There was no way she was going to let someone fool them. They might not have been able to feel the charka difference, after all, the sensing methods that she developed was unprecedented in shinobi history. She used her chakra like a six sense to feel out other's and identify them.

"Damn, you sure are troublesome, hu Chouji?" his unaffected, lazy voice seeped over her shoulder as she was vaguely aware that the restraint was lessening. "You've been away for quite some time, Haruno-chan. Don't assume that everyone has stayed the same." His quick mind and old honorific eased some of her unrest. It was then that she noted the thin, warm trickle of red that was dripping from her hand.

But it wasn't her hand that was bleeding. Her eyes grew wide and her pupils retracted as she took in the sight of Chouji's blood dripping down her hand. He hadn't just grabbed her hand to stop her. He let his own palm get pierced but her kunai.

"Akimichi-kun…" her pale face shuttered as her timid voice looked up into his face. He showed no sign of pain or anger. Instead he smiled warmly and slid his bleeding hand from her knife.

"Sorry Chouji, I didn't stop her in time." Shikamaru commented as the final effect of his Kage Mane no Jutsu released her. Unable to stop the fear and guilt that overwhelmed her and the sight of more Konoha blood on her hands, she tumbled to the ground. The sweet pain of the hard rooftop against her knees gave her reprieve from the unquenchable shame that filled her heart.

"Don't worry about it." Chouji spoke free of malice of even a hint of discord, instead he knelt in front of her and raised his hand beneath her teary gaze. "You're a medical ninja, right? I seem to have an injury, please examine it."

She lifted her head slowly, to see the same red swirls that colored his cheek, abide the scar, and was thrown back to when she was thirteen again. "Chouji…" the tears that filled her eyes were beginning to burn, but she fought them back. She wasn't going to be like that anymore. She was a criminal, an outlaw, the most powerful shinobi in the village. She wasn't going to be like Tsunade-sama and fear the sight of blood. She had killed too many times to let his blood unnerve her this much.

She straightened herself, and took his bloody hand. She concentrated for only an instant and she could feel her chakra release and heal the injury. It took almost no power, however bad it looked, it was nothing major. "Are you okay now? She asked evenly when she was done and the wound was closed.

"Never better." He answered as he stood, calmly and stepped back. "Thank you very much. I must get back to Ino, see ya." then he was gone. Sakura barely had enough time to contemplate the incredible man that he'd become in the years she'd been gone. She never imagined Chouji would become so strong. His heart truly was infallible, and she knew why Ino had fallen in love with him.

Sakura looked up, through the sun, to see the same face looking back at her with a strange expression. It was something that she was sure she'd never seen on that face before. Naruto was ashamed. "Is that really you?" she asked one last time, resigning herself to accept that this person must in fact be Naruto. But what had happened to his chakra, why was it so different. How much had he changed?

"Really." He replied with all the truth that she remembered his heart possessing. She felt a subtle ache then, knowing that her fellow teammate had changed so much that she was no longer able to recognize him. It now seemed as if Naruto was the most changed shinobi in the village. She looked down, in defeat and shame. It took stabbing another person for her to admit that she was wrong.

"What happened to you?" she stepped, tentatively closer to him, hesitant and also very aware that Shino and Shikamaru were still behind her, watching her every movement.

Naruto closed his eyes and scratched the back of his head. His blond hair was longer now, but still stood straight up and shone in the sunlight. He smiled, awkwardly the way he used to when they were younger and he had to admit something he didn't want to. "Well…" he paused and opened his eyes. But they seemed to have taken on a darker shade of blue that she was used to. "I kind of died."


	6. Truth

**Title: **Sakura's Home  
** Author:** Winter Ashby (_rosweldrmr_)  
**Disclaimer: **Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto-sama.** I don't own anything** about Naruto, this is just for fun and if I did own Naruto I wouldn't have to right this, because I would have a team of very talented people turning this into a saga right now...  
**Rating: **K+ **Warning**: this not only has spoilers until Manga 270ish, but it's kind of required for you to know what's going on. I use a lot of the Gaara mission, just made it AUish.  
**Summary: **Sakura was kicked out of Konoha five years ago but now has been asked to return… She will meet old friends and be faced with the consequences of her actions. Future AU Sakura centric. No pairings, and you need to be up to date in the manga and series.  
**Authors Notes:** Well, this isn't getting the attention that I was hoping for, but I'm going to keep writing it because _I_ like it. This chapter relies much on the manga so you should have read up to at lease the 280's to understand what's happening. I took the basic _idea _from the manga, but _obviously _I've made some changes to suit my plot. Let me know what you think.

* * *

**Chapter 6 – Truth**

"You what!?" she bellowed with all the air she has in her lungs, and she was suddenly and quite accidentally brought back to the days when team seven was first formed. Naruto always had a way of getting under her skin. The pupils disappeared from her eyes and her hair stood on end. Tears streamed down her face in thick rivers.

"Ah, Sakura-chan, don't cry!" his own reaction resembled hers; his voice was loud and high pitched. He waved his hands in the air, trying to calm her down. "I'm fine now, see?"

"Moron, how the hell did you die!? What were you doing, how could be that stupid?!" she mirrored his flailing arms and added in a strange dance where her legs moved back and forth so fast it almost looked like she was floating.

"Hu?" he stopped his waving stood still. His sudden change halted hers as well and they stood, silent for a moment as she considered all the possible causes and consequences of his admission.

"Akatsuki." her face turned pale as the word slipped from her lips. She knew then, the reason his chakra was so different – it was the same reason she didn't even recognize him or feel the nine-tails inside him anymore. "They released your seal? So it was true, I've read about it but I never knew how much truth there was in it. Once the demon is released the Jinchuuriki will die. But that doesn't explain how you…" she trailed off, trying desperately to piece together his resurrection.

"There was an old lady from sand, Chiyo-sama." He began slowly, but already she could tell the depths of pain this must be causing him. Naruto almost never called elders by such a respectful honorific; he still called the fifth old lady Tsunade. "We were on a mission to save the Kazekage of the sand…Gaara."

This didn't come as a surprise to her, even if she was in the hidden village of Stone when he was given that position, the stories of the boy with the demon inside him – a monster, reached far. People were scared of a boy with that much power taking over a country. There were rumors that he'd killed all the elders and taken the position, but she knew better than that. She saw the man that came back after the mission to rescue Sasuke. He saved Lee, even if it was just an order; there was something so different in him, ever since his match with Naruto.

About a year after that, she was traveling though sand when he confronted her in the desert. It was a strange encounter that she would probably never forget. He was still the same powerful, emotionless shinobi that she'd heard horror stories about during the chuunin exam. But he had come to tell her to leave his village. Since the chuunin exam, sand and leaf became allies. And her presence in sand was seen as a threat, and with leaf's permission he asked her to leave sand and not return.

He could have killed her, but instead he urged her to forget about her jutsu and return home. It was so strange for Gaara of the desert to give her a speech about the importance of precious people. He knew about her crime, and her goal – so he simply told her that she could be forgiven in time just as he had. The fact that she had something in common with Gaara made her stomach turn, but he was right. She was a murder, just like him.

He expressed his wishes to maintain the peace with leaf and protect his people. It was at that moment that she was certain he wasn't a monster; he just possessed one inside of him. She left, without a fight and full of a new found respect for the ninja of the sand. But she didn't know that Akatsuki had taken him. "Does that mean that Gaara…" she didn't finish, waiting desperately for his denial.

"No, we reached him just before… so Chiyo-sama was able to use only a partial soul transfer to save him." She felt a sudden wave of relief. Naruto looked past her to Shino and Shikamaru. She'd almost forgotten they were there. She didn't know why, but it seemed like he didn't want to continue in front of them. Apparently they understood what his hesitation meant, because a few moments later they were left alone.

"Naruto…" she stood, dazed by what he was telling her. "…a soul transfer isn't a healing technique." She knew all to well, because no matter how hard she tried to revive her victim in that field that horrible day, it was impossible. She would have traded her life for the one she took without a second thought. But she'd only heard of one woman capable of such a jutsu, Tsunade-shishou told her about a woman she'd fought against during the Third Great Ninja Wars.

"I know." He looked sad. It didn't fit him; it looked so unnatural for there to be a serious expression on his boyish face. Apparently he'd matured quite a bit in the time she'd been away. She knew that the events that lead to her expulsion from Konoha had weighed heavily on him. But she looked at him now, and saw no anger left for the person she'd taken.

"How did you… what happened?" she couldn't take not knowing anymore. She felt like she was stumbling through snow, trying to drag it out of him. He was murdered, and the demon inside him was removed. Her logical brain knew this because she knew what Akatsuki was after. But all this didn't add up. Because if the demon was removed, then he should have died, so how could have he been revived? She didn't know why, but she a sinking feeling in her stomach that she didn't really want him to finish the story because she wasn't going to like the ending.

"Itachi used his genjutsu tsukiyomi on me. I remember a strange swirling sky, and pain. The fox was ripping out of me. I couldn't control it…" He took a small breath. Sakura said nothing, but tried to breathe evenly and keep her stinging eyes fixated on his mournful expression. She knew what he had seen, because it was similar to what she had. "I killed everyone. After that, everything is blank." Then he got the same, strange look; the look of shame. "Gaara told me later what happened." He was still holding back, and it was beginning to scare her. "Chiyo-sama didn't have enough chakra to revive me, so…" his voice quivered and his hands gripped at his sides.

"Naruto, who…" her voice was so soft she wasn't even sure that he'd heard her. He kept his face down and his whole body still shook. Whether it was with anger, or tears she couldn't be sure.

"Sasuke."


	7. Finality

**Title: **Sakura's Home  
** Author:** Winter Ashby (_rosweldrmr_)  
**Disclaimer: **Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto-sama.** I don't own anything** about Naruto, this is just for fun and if I did own Naruto I wouldn't have to right this, because I would have a team of very talented people turning this into a saga right now...  
**Rating: **K+ **Warning**: this not only has spoilers until Manga 270ish, but it's kind of required for you to know what's going on. I use a lot of the Gaara mission, just made it AUish.  
**Summary: **Sakura was kicked out of Konoha five years ago but now has been asked to return… She will meet old friends and be faced with the consequences of her actions. Future AU Sakura centric. No pairings, and you need to be up to date in the manga and series.  
**Authors Notes:** This is coming along slowly... so be patient with me. I know it's short but I think that as I go the chapters are starting to get a little longer! I'm working on this little by little, I hope you are all satisfied with the progression thus far.

**

* * *

Chapter 7 – Finality**

She didn't say anything; she couldn't even bring herself to blink. It was the first time the entire day she'd allowed her thoughts to linger on him. As soon as Shino's words reached her ears, she'd blocked them out. Instinctively focusing on Kakashi's condition – but now that his deceased name clouded her senses and made her remember this boyish face, it felt as if the world would come crashing down around her. So she stood, and waited. She wasn't sure what she was waiting for. But she didn't care. She breathed, and she lived in that moment for waiting.

Waiting for Naruto to speak again, waiting for some kind of indication that this was real, waiting for comfort, waiting for pain and anger, waiting for rain that should have been falling, waiting for the roaring rush of unused blood flowing in her mind to quiet, waiting for the end of the world, waiting for Sasuke. Because that's what she'd always been doing anyway. She was always waiting for him, and she had the distinct impression that she would still be waiting.

In that moment she had an overwhelming urge to see his body. She wished she could see him one last time, touch his cold face just to reassure herself that he was real at one point. She wanted to make sure that she hadn't invented him in her mind all those years she was alone. So she stood and watched that same familiar face that now seemed so strange and alien look back at her with a kind of sickening sadness.

Finally he spoke. She supposed that perhaps she wasn't the only one who was waiting and that idea was comforting to her. "Sasuke came after Itachi." He answered quietly, with so much pain that she nearly fell to her knees. It made so much sense, too much. She should have known the minute she realized it was Akatsuki that Sasuke was involved. She silently cursed herself for not understanding sooner.

"What, what happened?" she found that her mouth was dry and she desperately tried to form words. She wasn't sure if she wanted to hear the story, in some kind of sick way, not knowing actually made it easier to trick herself into believing that it was all just a big misunderstanding.

"Well, I heard everything later, from Gaara." _Because you was dead_, Sakura let her feeble mind fill in the spaces between his words. "He said that they both used the Mangekyou sharingan. But Sasuke was the only one who woke up." His voice was slow and tired, and full of the most unbelievable pain she'd ever heard. "Gaara said he was barely alive, and with his last amount of chakra, he and Chiyo-sama gave their lives to bring me back."

Then the small circular droplets that feel to the rooftop she knew his pain. "Sasuke gave his life to save you?" helplessly she bit her lip to keep it from trembling. Even though he'd abandoned them all and gone to Orochimaru, in the end he was still the boy she'd fallen so helplessly in love with. Knowing that in his last action, he'd redeemed all the heartless things he'd done in the past, she felt almost vindicated.

He didn't answer her question, it didn't really warrant an answer. Sasuke had fulfilled his promise for revenge, and saved Naruto. "Sakura-chan…" he spoke again, still looking down, unwilling to show his weakness. "Sasuke's last words…" he began, but promptly stopped again. But the phrase hung in the air around her, weighing her down, making her brain process that he was gone. He was dead, no more breathing, or talking, or scowling, or fighting. There would be no more revenge, no more sad eyes and misplaced goals. He would never tell her she was annoying again. She waited for him to speak again as the world of painful grief washed over her again and again. "It was a message for you."

That was the moment that the rest of the world faded away, it she was left with just her pain and regret. She felt a million years old just then, thinking about all the possible ways he could finish that sentence. Sasuke knew she was kicked out of Konoha, and deep in her heart, she always wished that he would come for her one day. Her entire body felt like it was trembling so hard she might fall at any minute.

She was his last thought, his last words for her. If there had ever been a question in her mind whether loving him had been the wrong decision, it was now gone – lost to all the other thoughts that filled her crowed mind. But she still wasn't sure that she could form words, and even though the silence that surrounded her now was unbearable, she knew that it was better to give Naruto as much time as he needed to answer. No doubt that horrible ripping noise that filled her ears was that of two hearts breaking. Naruto had loved him too, she knew that. But it never seemed more real than now.

"Sasuke said to tell you …" he was now visibly crying, and that scared her more than the prospect of what Sasuke had to say to her from beyond the grave. "…thank you." The defeat that smothered his words shook her to the core. She wanted to ask him why, or how, something, anything. She wanted to scream or kick Sasuke. She wanted to cry and just disappear all at the same time. She wanted to do anything than just stand there, watching Naruto crying, and regretting her whole life. It was such a Sasuke thing to do, and she hated and loved him for it.

"Naruto…" was the only word she could form, at it was only a shaky, mumbled form of what it should have sounded like. She stumbled forward; needed to touch him, to make sure he was really standing there. She felt like so much of this day was just some kind of horrible nightmare. She wanted a tangible truth that she could hold on to. He was the only person in the world that could understand the pain she felt. It was all too much, even for an emotionless ninja. Being home, but realizing that everything that made it home was now gone ate away at her heart.

Even the man in front of her now was a stranger. She didn't recognize his chakra, or the man he'd become in the time she was gone. Sasuke was gone forever, and she standing at the edge of losing Kakashi too. Even more than that, seeing the faces of all those people she'd hurt years ago was weighing on her. But she could feel all that slipping away as her feet carried her to him.

His arms opened to embrace her. And she gladly buried her face deep into the bright orange jacket and cried for all the things that she couldn't changed. The world washed away, and for the first time in five years, she felt safe. She never expected to miss him as much as she did, but now that he was all she had left she realized how much she needed him. She wasn't sure how long they stood there like that, crying and clinging to each other for everything they'd lost, but she knew it was a while. When his arms finally lessened his grip, she leaned back slightly. She wanted to say something, but she didn't know what, or how to comfort him. He loved Sasuke too, she knew. Naruto looked at Sasuke and saw a teammate, a rival, a friend, but even more than that. He saw the brother he never had, the family he always wanted.

She knew that having to just sit and watch Kakashi die must be torture. So instead of saying anything she just leaned in again and rested her cheek on his chest, enjoying the beating of his heart. Even if she'd lost Sasuke, she wasn't alone. So she clings to him, hoping in vein that somehow he could make everything better, but knowing with absolute finality that he can't. His hands timidly rested on her hair and she let him.

She could feel his intake of breath and waited for him to speak. "I don't care what happened in the past, or how long you've been gone. You can't let Kakashi-sensei die, no matter how you do it; you are the only one who can save him, Sakura-chan. I couldn't just let him die. Even if we have to take him away from here, I will not let anyone else die because of me." His words were strong and confidant. Apparently he'd thought about this decision a lot, and he was sure. But one thing didn't make sense.

"Because of you?" she asked him, unsure what that meant.

* * *

**Foot Note: **

I wanted to say something about the Naruto & Sakura relationship in this. There will never be anything there besides friendship in this fic. I know at this point, I seem to be bringing them together - but for anyone who has lost someone they love, there is only one way to dull that pain. And that is to drown in the embrace of someone else who is in just as much pain you are.

I know this lesson all too well, and I will honestly tell you that even a stranger who weeps at a wake can become your only lifeline. And especially for girls, you need a man - you need strong arms and the security that only a man can give. And Naruto is there, he is in pain, and the only one who is capable, who loves _her _enough to hold her and let her cry.

They are friends, and I would argue, best friends. That is why there is a connection - that's all. Sorry for all the Naru/Saku shipper who may be reading this, but I needed this fic to be ship-less. I felt that it was important to tell Sakura's story - not the story of who she's going to shack up with. Thanks for reading... and I'm going to get back to writing because I really do love this fic and I've been neglecting it lately.

* * *

This is dedicated in the loving memory of H.W. You were an angel in life and I know that you are looking over me now. It has been six years since I lost you, and I still visit your tree. This chapter was written with you in mind, and I know that you are in a better place now. You were loved, and you are missed.


	8. Hope

**Title: **Sakura's Home  
** Author:** Winter Ashby (_rosweldrmr_)  
**Disclaimer: **Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto-sama.** I don't own anything** about Naruto, this is just for fun and if I did own Naruto I wouldn't have to right this, because I would have a team of very talented people turning this into a saga right now...  
**Rating: **K+ **Warning**: this not only has spoilers until Manga 270ish, but it's kind of required for you to know what's going on. I use a lot of the Gaara mission, just made it AUish.  
**Summary: **Sakura was kicked out of Konoha five years ago but now has been asked to return… She will meet old friends and be faced with the consequences of her actions. Future AU Sakura centric. No pairings, and you need to be up to date in the manga and series.  
**Authors Notes: **GOO, It's been HOW long since I updated? I am so sorry, but I swear I've been trying to get this chapter up for like a week now - that's all on not me. And as you have all noticed, I've switched my format, so it looks more offiicial-ish. At least that's what I think. I've been depressed lately, what with my life completely being ruined and all, so good news - I've made great progress with the nearly unbearable angst still yet to come. I do hope everyone likes this! AND I SWEAR - the next update will be soon!**  
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Chapter 8 – Hope**

She looked up into his slightly darker eyes and wondered if that was Sasuke looking out at her. She imagined that part of him was still living on in Naruto now, and that was more comforting than thinking that all traces of him were gone. But she let that thought pass as she waited for him to explain why Kakashi's condition was also his fault.

"Kakashi-sensei was there that day. He used his Mangekyou Sharingan on Itachi after my demon was removed. But Kakashi-sensei never woke up. He's like that because of me, because I wasn't strong enough to defend myself." She stepped back from him to examine the man he'd become. Time, and heartache weighed heavily on his shoulders, and the lonely fear that lingered in his eyes did remind her of Sasuke. He was lost, and in so much pain. She knew then that she would do anything for him.

"Don't worry, Naruto. I won't let Kakashi-san die." She stood confidently and faced him. He raised his face to her, and she could clearly see his hope returning to his bleak features. She could heal practically anyone, providing that she wasn't the one who drained their life-force. "Let's go see the Godaime." And she was off, leaping from roof to roof. She didn't have to wait for him, she knew he would follow.

She was getting used to his new chakra. It was no less powerful than before, but now she understood why it was so strange. It was a mix, not like it was before. It was integrated, like every particle of chakra had three different kinds. He truly was a mixed breed now, but not with a monster anymore. He was the integration of 3 great shinobi, and she thought that someday when he learned to harness the power of all the chakras at once, he would be more powerful than even her.

They arrived at the headquarters together a few minutes later. It looked much it did five years ago, with a little more wear on the exterior. Without waiting to thinking about what she was walking into, she let her eager feet quickly climb the long stairs that traced the side of the building. But it was the figure at the top of the stairs that finally made her stop. The blond hair moving with the rhythm of the wind, the honey brown eyes, green robe and blue diamond was right out of her memory.

She stood ominously, with her hands on her waist, staring down at the student she used to take so much pride in. Sakura could feel Naruto only a few steps behind her stop as well. She took a long, deep bow as she addressed the Godaime. "Tsunade-sama, good morning."

"What business do you have here?" Tsunade's voice was strong and forceful, much like it often was, ringing in her mind. She remained bowed and perfectly still. She maintained a constant chakra output close to nothing, so she wouldn't present a danger. She knew how fiercely the fifth would fight to protect her village.

"I received a message requesting my immediate return." She spoke quietly, but loud enough for her soft voice to travel up on the wind to Tsunade. "I arrived and was taken to Kakashi-san."

"I brought her here to save Kakashi-sensei, Tsunade-obaa-chan." Naruto's voice came thundering past her, but she remained bowed with her eyes down. She winced at Naruto's lack of respect. She still remembered what it was like to be her student, and how harsh she could be sometimes. That residual fear lingered now in her formal stature.

"She was not granted official permission, Naruto. She is a wanted criminal in this village." Sakura couldn't be sure, but she thought she felt a familiar chakra join Tsunade on the steps of the headquarters. Since she was trying to suppress all her chakra, her sensing abilities were minimal at best. It had also been a long time, and it was a chakra that she was never very familiar with. But the last time she was here, he wasn't even a genin yet. Still there was no mistaking the remnants of the third, and the slight mischievous, uncontrolled chakra.

"Konohamaru!" Tsunade's voice was shrill as she screamed at the headstrong young shinobi. Apparently, not only had he joined her, but he was also now charging down the steps at them.

"How could you bring her here, Naruto!" the male voice echoed off the building as she felt the person lunge forward. It was obvious that he'd grown more powerful, in fact he was probably just about to take the chuunin exam in the next rounds. She heard the faint clink of metal as he reached into his pouch. He'd drawn a kunai; she could here the wind moving differently around the slicing metal than his flesh. He wasn't headed for her, though. Instead she could sense him directing the weapon at Naruto. But faster than the boy could reach him, Sakura was in front of him.

She felt the metal slice into her upper forearm, and the blood begins to flow. She stood in between a shocked Naruto and the very frightened eyes of a now, thirteen Konohamaru. His eyes went almost completely white as his pupils retracted at the sight of his knife in her arm.

"Sakura-chan." Naruto's soft, concerned voice drifted on the breeze past her face like a soft hand. The pain wasn't all that bad; after all, she'd been wounded much worse before.

"Why?" Konohamaru's word reminded her of the young boy in front of her. She gave him a soft smile as she placed her hand over the kunai and her arm which was now slick with blood.

"He is an important person that I must protect." She said in her best imitation of what her mother used to sound like: soft, with not the slightest hint of regret, anger or fear. She was completely in control of her emotions, which was a lesson she could see that Konohamaru had yet to be experienced with.

She slid her hand down the blade, dragging her blood with it. Her now red-soaked hand gripped his as he still held the knife. He was trembling, so she did her best to steady him. Slowly, painfully slowly, she slides the knife from her flesh with a sickening squish.

The kunai hit the concrete steps with a lonely clink as it slipped from his bloody hand. She placed her hand over the wound which was now bleeding even more than before. And with only a second of concentration, her wound was healed and the pain was gone. It was a strange sensation to heal herself, and it often took more energy than it did to heal another person, but with an injury so small there was almost no effect on her.

"Sakura…" Tsunade's voice took a curiously soft tone as the young shinobi fell back to sit on the steps. Sakura ignored her for the moment and knelt down to look the boy in the face.

"Konohamaru-kun, please learn to be more careful when you decide to use a weapon. If you are not prepared to see blood then you should not draw. It is not a choice that you should take lightly. If you mean to hurt someone, which sometimes you must, then you must also expect to see blood on your hands." With that, she took his hand in hers and used the hem-line of her outfit to wipe their hands. In a moment, his hands were clean but she left the knife on the stair covered with her blood. "Wash you kunai, I didn't come here looking for a fight. I came back because I was asked, and I will stay to save another person I must protect."

"Sakura, I can not allow you to heal Kakashi with your forbidden jutsu." Tsunade spoke again, but closer this time, and more confident. Much like the leader she was. She hadn't expected this to be easy, but for some reason having to look her former sensei in the eyes was more difficult that she would have liked to admit.

But she stood, and looked past the broken boy on the steps at her feet. Tsunade's warm brown eyes were filled with all the anger she'd held for five years. Sakura knew that her presence wasn't easy for her, but she also knew that she had a mission to do. "I will not let him die." She spoke in a hushed voice, but the resilience was palatable.

Tsunade sighed; she knew well enough the streak of extreme stubbornness that ran the length of Sakura's heart. "You can not use your jutsu, and he refused to have the sharingan eye removed." She lowered her eyes to look vaguely at the boy that sat between them. Sadness filled her features, and Sakura knew she was suffering as well. She never doubted that. The great slug healer, a member of the Densetsu no Sannin: Tsunade-sama; and she was unable to heal one of her own, and was forced to watch him die. "You can't save him Sakura."

She was defeated, broken, and utterly devastated. She mildly thought that there might have been part of her that would have let her use her jutsu if it meant saving him. But Sakura also knew who the true powers were in the village, and there was no way the council of elders, one of which was a family member of the person she killed, would allow Tsunade to let her.

"Yes, Tsunade-sama, I can." It was a thought she'd gotten the moment she realized what was happening to Kakashi. It was far more dangerous than she would have liked, for her, but that didn't really matter anymore. "I won't remove his eye, and I won't use my jutsu – but I can save him." Sakura's seal covered face met with Tsunade's fleeting hope as it danced through her eyes, taunting her, forcing her to consider Sakura's words.

"How?"


	9. Balance

**Title: **Sakura's Home  
** Author:** Winter Ashby (_rosweldrmr_)  
**Disclaimer: **Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto-sama.** I don't own anything** about Naruto, this is just for fun and if I did own Naruto I wouldn't have to right this, because I would have a team of very talented people turning this into a saga right now...  
**Rating: **K+  
**Warning**: this not only has spoilers until Manga 270ish, but it's kind of required for you to know what's going on. I use a lot of the Gaara mission, just made it AUish.  
**Summary: **Sakura was kicked out of Konoha five years ago but now has been asked to return… She will meet old friends and be faced with the consequences of her actions. Future AU Sakura centric. No pairings, and you need to be up to date in the manga and series.  
**Authors Notes: **I told you I wouldn't make you wait too long for the next update. The good stuff is almost here... almost... Oh and just as a little piece of trivia for anyone who's interested. The title of this chapter 'Balance' is an allusion to what I deem to be the greatest Fandoms that exists... still to this day and in spite of the massive Naruto fandom. Don't get me wrong, I love Naruto. The title comes from an episode of Roswell. Because if you're a freak like me, you know the title of every single episode.**  
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Chapter 9 – Balance**

"Kakashi-san isn't the only one who has faced Itachi and failed." She spoke steadily, trying her best not to hint at the terror that still surrounded that memory. Tsunade's face showed no sign of surprise, but she knew it was there, nonetheless. Sakura looked down one last time to the boy at her feet and sighed. She stepped around him, leaving the genin to think about the bloody knife at his feet.

Tsunade didn't wavier, but addressed her with great authority. "Please come to my office so we can discuss this further. Naruto, help Konohamaru." It was very unlike Naruto to accept an order, but he nodded and obeyed. It was so uncharacteristic of him that Sakura had to repress the urge to poke him. Maybe coming back from the dead changed him in more ways that just his chakra. But she also had a feeling he didn't want to hear about her encounter with Itachi. She was grateful for that. She made it a habit to repress the memories of those weeks from her mind, reliving them was not a prospect she was looking forward to. She could already feel a lump start to form in her throat and a quiver threatening to radiate from the base of her spine.

She ignored it and bowed her head as she steadily followed her former sensei. The familiar door loomed in the distance as they made their way down the unchanged hall. It was eerie, being somewhere that used to make her feel so safe, knowing that there were eyes watching her every movement. But then again, she was a murderer, so she deserved every hateful look and fearful, fleeting glace that she got. The impression of impending doom was once again mounting in her heart, but it was now growing stronger. She felt like she was adrift on a sea of emotions that were swimming around inside of her.

Once they were behind the large, heavy wooden doors of Tsunade's office door, she finally felt some semblance of normality. And then, the budding fear felt like it was melting away in the sunlight that filtered in through the large windows. There were no more wandering eyes, and sideways glances through curved lids. She knew what they were thinking, and she knew that they were right. But none of that mattered anymore. The only thing Sakura allowed herself to think of was Kakashi laying helplessly in the dark. He was so pale and thin, it was like looking at a skeleton and the feel of the leathery, cold skin of his hand when she held it in her own was haunting. That was the reason she was back, and the reason she would stay. Even if she had lost Sasuke, there was still someone she needed to save.

"Be seated." Tsunade's voice was laden with the authority Sakura recalled dreading so much in her teenage years. But it was also different now too. She didn't remember there being such a chip of aggression in the woman's words before. Idly, she wondered what had caused the change in her former sensei. But she already knew the answer to that. The day she took another villager's life Tsunade changed, she blamed herself for letting Sakura get so far from her intended path. She tried not to think about that though, and instead she obediently sat across from her, bathing in the warm early morning sun. "Explain."

It seemed like such a simple request, one that Sakura should feel no apprehension in adhering to. But from the depths of her soul to the pit of her stomach, she knew for absolute certainty that she would stumble. Suddenly, she felt all the previous pain and grief and heartache come thundering back into her mind. It was so much, too much. She couldn't think, she couldn't breathe. She couldn't even comprehend what she was supposed to answer. She could feel the blood on her hands again, and hear the screaming. It felt so real, so close. She let her head drop and her bangs shielding her face from Tsunade's eyes. "Please, I need just a moment." She squeaked from her perch at the edge of painful regret.

Apparently Tsunade understood the pain in her words, and plea for just a little more time to settle her thoughts. It was impolite to speak like that, but it was all Sakura could do to try and subdue the immense trepidation in her soul. It had been a long while since she'd let herself remember her run-in with Itachi, but it was even more painful now. Just thinking of all the people she could have saved if she would have been strong enough to stop him three years ago made her feel sick.

Then, as soon as the painful feeling had come, it was gone – lost in a sea of a hundred other fears that clenched her heart that morning. Her stomach leveled out, and once again she felt the ability to form words. It was unexpected, but not without precedent. She had felt the same jolt four years after Sasuke left. It was a year after she was expelled, and just the time that he should have been taken over by Orochimaru. It was only on the wings of the gossiping wind did she hear the gallant tale of how a boy with an ancient fox trapped inside his body was able to once again delay the soul transfer. So it would appear that before Sasuke could be used as a vessel again, he finally achieved vengeance. She wondered if in his last moments, he thought it was worth it.

"I apologize." Her voice returned once again, but Tsunade just sat, hands clasped in front of her face, and a penetrating gaze that she recalled so well. "It was three years ago, I was training in the mountains of Stone. I never knew why he targeted me, but I was caught off guard and I wasn't strong enough." It was such a simple story, one that could be told effortlessly, if it weren't for the sound of her own tortured cries that echoing in her mind. She felt a sweeping pain streak across her brain, like a lightning bolt. She refrained from shivering, but the memory of the blood red sky hanging low as she struggled to hold on to her sanity was so real. The sensation of the phantom blood that stained her hands still woke her up in the middle of the night.

"I understand that each person will experience something different." Tsunade's face was emotionless as she probed her former student's memory for a key to unlock the mystery of the infamous Uchiha. Sakura nodded, and waited for the question she knew was coming. "What did you see?"

She sighed lightly, and prepared to answer. "I murdered her, over and over. I knew it was going to happen, but each time I was powerless to stop it, or save her…" Sakura stopped then; unable to continue. She stayed quiet for a long moment and inhaled deep breathes to calm her pounding heart and aching soul. Once she was satisfied with her restored stoicism, she clarified further. "For a week I was caught in an endless cycle. It was so real. I could feel her blood on my hands and hear her gasping for air just..." she didn't finish. She knew she wouldn't have to and she couldn't.

"I see." The great Godaime Hokage replied impassively. And Sakura was grateful Naruto wasn't there then. She knew that her actions hurt him more than he would ever allow himself to admit. But she saw the looks, and the hesitant pain that reflected in his eyes the morning after, as she was banished. "And how did you recover?" Tsunade interrupted her thoughts.

She didn't have to say the next part, the underlying meaning of the statement. Sakura heard it nonetheless. Tsunade knew Sakura was not aided by anyone else. Who would help a murderer? "After a week, I was left in darkness. I focused all my energy on trying to sense what was controlling me. I was able to uncover the secret of the Mange Sharingan."

"And how did you do that?" her questions were straightforward, but Sakura could also here the accusation that soaked her tone. She was trying to ascertain if Sakura used her forbidden jutsu.

"I was lost in never-ending darkness. I had no sense of myself, or the world around me. I couldn't have used my jutsu even though I wanted to. I had to rely on my chakra control, the skill _you_ taught me." There was a reverence in her comment that she was sure wasn't lost on the powerful woman who sat in front of her. "It disrupts that balance of a person's chakra with their physical body. It pits the mind against the body. Once I figured that out, it was relatively easy to rebalance the flow between my mind and body." Sakura noted how small she seemed in the sun streaked room, her light blond hair shone and her honey eyes narrowed.

"How?" her insistence was as strong as ever, and Sakura let the fleeting feeling of security pass. She was a criminal, a stain on the pride of the village and to her master. It wasn't until then, faced with her former life that she really became aware of how different everything was. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she'd always entertained the idea that everyone was exactly the way she left them five years ago. She knew it was impossible, and she wasn't even really aware that she'd been doing it. But now that she was face to face with her old life, the reality she'd stepped into early this morning was a startling contrast to her memory.

She repressed yet another sweeping pang of grief that coursed through her body for a hundredth time since the day began. At first it was easy to suppress the tears that weld up in her eyes and the pain that threatened to bring her to her knees. But with each passing minute, the shell of the heartless tool was withering away. Images of Sasuke in his last moments passed through her mind. Hearing Naruto cry out as the kyuubi was taken from his body. Kakashi falling to he knees while Itachi stood menacing over him.

She could no longer keep herself from feeling the grief from losing so much, so fast. Even though Sasuke had been gone for eight years, she still always harbored the hope that someday she would heal him and they could come home together. She knew it was a useless fantasy, but even in her darkest hours it was the thought that kept her going. He was what kept her alive, no matter how many times she was attacked; thinking of saving him kept her fighting.

Sakura tried to focus on Tsunade's question, but the clenching in her heart was getting stronger with each second. She desperately blinked back the tears that she knew were mounting and recalled the method that could save her childhood sensei. Eventually, she took a deep breath and spoke. "From the inside."

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_Pardon my intrusion here at the end, but I am now on my knees begging, begging with tears in my eyes...please, help me!_

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◦○O**ADVERTISEMENT**O○◦

**BETA wanted!**

I am deeply in need of someone who can check over my fics before they go up. I don't need anyone familiar with all the shows I watch or anything like that. All I need is someone who will read over my fics, highlight the problem sections in red and send it back. I will do all of my own editing, I just need fresh eyes who will point out the things I missed. And, this person should be over 17 because I have NC-17 fics that severely need a once over. And I refuse to corrupt innocent children for the sake of grammar. Seriously though... I do have SOME morals!


	10. Inside

**Title: **Sakura's Home  
** Author:** Winter Ashby (_rosweldrmr_)  
**Disclaimer: **Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto-sama.** I don't own anything** about Naruto, this is just for fun and if I did own Naruto I wouldn't have to right this, because I would have a team of very talented people turning this into a saga right now...  
**Rating: **K+  
**Warning**: this not only has spoilers until Manga 270ish, but it's kind of required for you to know what's going on. I use a lot of the Gaara mission, just made it AUish.  
**Summary: **Sakura was kicked out of Konoha five years ago but now has been asked to return… She will meet old friends and be faced with the consequences of her actions. Future AU Sakura centric. No pairings, and you need to be up to date in the manga and series.  
**Authors Notes:** Thanks to all my reviewers... you all rock. Especially Sandstorm626 - You really got me going on this. I hope this was a speedy enough update for you:)

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Chapter 10 – Inside**

Tsunade simple narrowed her eyes again, hanging just over the crest of her intertwined fingers. "Kakashi-san must be balanced." She finally was able to reply after a few minutes of suppressing the overwhelming need to scream. "The sharingan was never a part of his chakra flow, so it was always out of phase with the rest of his body. I'm surprised that something like this hasn't happened sooner. But he is strong, and only uses it when he has to. However with the added stress of the Mange Sharingan and facing Itachi, his body just couldn't take anymore."

"How do you get inside?" her patience was wearing thin and Sakura could tell that being told about chakra control and balance from her student was aggravating. It was bad enough that she knew of no way to help Kakashi, but the great slug healer was being told what to do by her former apprentice was insulting. Sakura proceeded hastily, but respectfully.

"Using a variation of Ino's Shin Ran Shin no jutsu, she can transport my conscious mind first into herself, and then into Kakashi's body. Then it's just a matter of time before I can balance his chakra." Sakura sat, waiting for the decision to come. Even though she knew that the final choice would be made by the elders, she could have sworn, for a second, that she saw a glimmer of hope dance through those sullen brown eyes.

"I see." She responded, leaning back from her desk into the soft, billowy chair. "Then he can be brought out of the dimension." Then just as soon as the moment of relaxation had appeared it was gone. "What are the risks?" She was no fool; she understood that there must be heavy risks associated with this kind of action. But being a chronic gambler hopefully gave her enough reason to consider letting her do it.

"The only risks associated with this will be mine. Ino and Kakashi will in no time be in any danger." She was stalling, she knew it. She didn't want to have to admit out loud that there was a chance things could go really wrong. But Tsunade pinned her with those familiar eyes, and she had to keep her hands from balling up the fabric of her outfit like she did when she was younger. There was no way she was going to let herself fidget. She looked up and faced her decision. "There is a chance that I won't be able to come back. I've never done this before, but from what I understand, there is a risk of being sucked into his mind and unable to dispel the illusion." She was quietly contemplating the thought of wondering, lost, for all time inside another person's mind when Tsunade abruptly stood. It was unexpected, to be sure. And part of her wanted to cower at the sheer massive chakra her sensei was releasing.

"Naruto is not to be told about this." She concluded after a few moments of inward contemplation. Tsunade's down turned glance and resolute features indicated that she was standing at the precipice of allowing Sakura to potentially sacrifice herself to save Kakashi. Sakura silently thanked her for being so understanding. With the shame that she and Sasuke brought to the village, she would take the example from Sasuke and make her last action that of self sacrifice. In her last moment, at least she would be able to redeem herself a little.

"Understood." she responded in kind, quietly with all the thanks she couldn't express. She knew it must have been hard on Tsunade, but she was a great leader and a reasonable woman. Surely she understood the desire to protect precious people. "Thank you, Tsunade-sama." She stood too and bowed deeply in exchange for the life she was about to throw away. "If I may…" Sakura spoke from her bowed position at the edge of the desk. "Tsunade-sama, I would like to pay my respects…"

"I understand." She cut her off, already sensing where this request was leading. Sakura looked up just in time to see her wave her finger in the air, beckoning. Sakura spun around just as the tiles of the roof panel were being pulled aside and a body came soundlessly to drop at her feet. She hadn't even felt the presence. The shock of seeing the hooded, masked figure descend from only a few feet behind her was unsettling.

She felt nothing coming from them. It wasn't as if they were a void, but instead she extended her chakra cloud to entwine with theirs, but found nothing. It was like he wasn't real; she'd never encountered anything like it before. She couldn't tell who it was, or if she even knew them. She was pretty sure it was a man, but underneath all those robes, it was hard to be sure. All she could do was stand there; feebly wait for something to happen. He didn't appear hostile, and for that she was thankful. However, he also didn't appear to be someone she remembered. She didn't like the idea that someone was now a member of ANBU that she didn't know. That would mean he was an outsider. She couldn't think of a single person who could have masked their chakra flow so completely. It was meaningless to do, unless they were aware of her sensing abilities.

That idea disturbed her even more. It meant that this person knew her, knew about her process of chakra sensing and had developed his own response to that. It meant she did know this person, and they spent a considerable amount of time training to be able to face specifically her. She didn't like that idea in the least. It could even be anyone she'd seen earlier who just now felt the need to conceal themselves. Or this person could have been following her for days and she wouldn't have even known. Needless to say, she did not like the current situation at all.

"Take her to the memorial stone. Don't let her out of your sight, understood." There was a nod, but no words. She couldn't even sense the air around him shift as he moved. "When she is done, bring her back here. I will have spoken to the elders and Ino by then." Another nod, another chill ran down her spine. Sakura was about to request a different escort when she was interrupted. "Dismissed."

And that seemed to be the end of the discussion. She stood, dumbfounded, not really understanding what just happened, but thoroughly displeased. Tsunade seemed to be unaware of the anger building in her and simply turned her back, facing the now midday sun. She had to turn when she heard the click of the handle of the door turning, she hadn't even been aware of his movements. She didn't like this one bit.

But she bowed, obediently and kept her eyes fixed on the immovable figure in front of her. "Yes ma'am." Sakura let herself rise and turn away from all that was familiar and semi-comforting to be led into the hall with a figure she was convinced had a personal vendetta against her. But then again, there were a great many of her former comrades who harbored such a hatred for her.

She walked a few steps behind him as he briskly made his way down the hall once again. Except this time, she was sure there were eyes watching her, from above, to the sides in the cracks in the walls, and oddly enough from his back. It was like she could feel him watching her, even with his back to her. It was unsettling and utterly disconcerting.

She extended her chakra field, desperately trying to get any kind of idea about who this person was. But once again, it was like he did exist. Her chakra passed right over him, as if it was an illusion. She focused her chakra to her ears, trying to sense any indication that the footsteps and breathing were real. She couldn't tell. She wasn't even sure if all this was real anymore.

It wasn't like how Lee had no chakra, because she could still feel _him_. She could still sense the way the air heated around him limbs, and the way the earth crunched under his feet. But this person was like a hallucination. She couldn't even hear him breathing and for one wild, insane moment she was tempted to try and touch him – just to see if her fingers passed through empty space.

But she had the sinking suspicion that trying to touch the person that _hates_ you isn't a good idea. He had to be real, she knew of no clones or illusions like this. And Tsunade seemed completely at ease with letting her go off with this person. How had she been able to tell he was there when Sakura couldn't? Had Tsunade asked him to hide there, knowing that she was coming? She couldn't be sure but she was slowly going crazy trying to figure out who this person was.

All she knew was that she was following this man, she assumed, who obviously had a grudge against her, and was leading her right back to the place where she needed to be but in no way was ready to face – especially not in the company of someone like him. How could she mourn while she was being watched with hateful eyes? She was one second away from trying to sense his life force but was interrupted.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Not unless you want to die."


	11. Names

**Title: **Sakura's Home  
** Author:** Winter Ashby (_rosweldrmr_)  
**Disclaimer: **Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto-sama.** I don't own anything** about Naruto, this is just for fun and if I did own Naruto I wouldn't have to right this, because I would have a team of very talented people turning this into a saga right now...  
**Rating: **K+  
**Warning**: this not only has spoilers until Manga 270ish, but it's kind of required for you to know what's going on. I use a lot of the Gaara mission, just made it AUish.  
**Summary: **Sakura was kicked out of Konoha five years ago but now has been asked to return… She will meet old friends and be faced with the consequences of her actions. Future AU Sakura centric. No pairings, and you need to be up to date in the manga and series.  
**Authors Notes:** :does a little dance: I have fifty reviews! Thanks so much for your patients and for all the lovely comments. I never expected this story to do so well. Finally - the big secret... that most of you have already guess, is revealed.

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**Chapter 11 - Names**

The deep voice startled her from her investigation, and struck a pain in her heart. She should have been able to recognize the voice, but instead all she was left with was the overwhelming feeling of hatred that colored his words. She was so taken aback she stopped her stride and stood, dumbfounded at the absolute malice that he surrounded her with in an instant. It was obvious now that she knew him, and that he was controlling his output. After all, he'd just let her sense his bloodlust for the first time, and it was frightening.

She'd encountered many people who wanted to kill her. There was always some wondering shinobi who wished to steal the secret of the life-draining technique. But she was acutely aware at that moment that those kinds of bloodlusts were completely different from what he felt. This was the first time in her life that she felt such and intense loathing focused entirely on her, and for some reason she just knew that she deserved it. In her mind, she suddenly pictured herself dropping to her knees and asking him to finish her. She knew; with complete certainly that if he ever did take it into his own hands to avenge whatever crime she'd done to him, she would lose. There was no way to fight back against that kind of overwhelming disgust.

It wasn't like the intent to kill that Orochimaru immobilized her with when she was 13, but it was just as terrifying on another level. There was so much hurt, and pain, and justified indignation. It only took one second of feeling his hate that she was sure she deserved to die. That's what made it so terrifying. She knew that she would let him take her life, because she knew with all the truth she still held in her heart that he would be perfectly justified in it. Hell, she'd slit her own throat and hand him her sill-beating heart right now, if it wasn't for the nagging missions that loomed in her mind.

_Kakashi_. She said it in her mind over and over again. It was a mantra that she repeated in her heart as he finally turned the eerie mask away from her and she began to feel her heart beat again. She breathed in deep as he retracted his emotions and once again she was left with the absence of anything. She had been holding her breath, and she didn't even realize it. This man was the most dangerous kind of creature she could think of. As she watched the swaying of this black coat as he opened the door to the outside and was flooded by the sunlight, she felt a startling change in her thoughts.

She was the bad guy. She was the murderer, she was the criminal. She was banished; she was the evil former student who researched the forbidden jutsu. Even Sasuke had redeemed himself. And he'd never killed a fellow leaf, the worst he'd done was abandon his home to seek power. But even that, she knew, was to get vengeance for the slaughtering of his clan. What she'd done was inexcusable. She'd always known what she did was unforgivable. She would never let herself forget it. But she'd always been able to allow herself some freedom. She told herself it was an accident, that she didn't mean it. She told herself that it was all to save Sasuke, and so many other people.

Now was different. There were looming grey clouds beginning to settle over the village as they made their way down the stairs in silence and Sakura contemplated all the pain she'd caused. She couldn't even hide the self-hatred that filled her heart with every step she took. She wasn't interested in saving anyone but herself. She'd always dreamed that if she lifted his seal, he would finally love her. All through her training, in the back of her mind she always wondered what he would think of how powerful she'd become.

She was certainly a poor excuse for a human. As the last step of the stairs passed under her feet, she became peacefully resigned to die for Kakashi. Before, it was a risk she'd thought of since the instance Shino shattered her hopes to remove his eye. But now, it was more than that. She almost wished for death. It would finally give her some semblance of being the kind of person she used to think she was.

"This way." His bland, un-telling voice indicated she follow him through the back roads to the memorial stone. In the distance she could hear the laughter of children, people talking, the markets buzzing with people all going about their day. Obviously, they wanted to avoid her coming into contact with any people. For one wistful moment, she imagined her parents in Ino's family's shop talking. Like how things used to be. But she knew that was a fantasy. Her parents were shamed after her crime. She didn't even know if they were still alive, truthfully.

Even though they weren't great shinobi, she knew they were proud people and they wouldn't have staying in the village much longer after her expulsion. She knew they would have lived passed the gates now if they were sill around, in the low hills of the surrounding mountains. That was just another side effect of her selfishness. Part of her almost wished they weren't alive to see her homecoming, and now, inevitable death. She'd done enough to them already. She nodded and followed the faceless avenger through winding dirt paths that she knew all too well.

But even from her contemplative state, she could still feel eyes on her. Carefully, she glanced around, trying to gauge her surroundings. But she was unable to detect any other chakras in the area. Still, there was a prickling on her neck as she felt her unease being observed. She was over come with the sudden urge to yell at the man in front of her. It was clear he hated her, but to put her through so many mind games was making her insane. And the suffocating silence he blanketed her with was beginning to weigh her down. She closed her eyes for a moment, gathering her courage and tested her voice. "Who are you?" she almost expected him to falter, or taken an elongated pause at the sudden and rather forceful question. He didn't. But she also hadn't expected him to answer either, but she was wrong again.

"Why, I'm hurt. Don't you recognize me, Sakura-chan?" the malice that laced her name rolling painfully slow from his porcelain covered lips was agonizing. There was so much anger in this one man. But she didn't even have time to analyze it, because the heavens suddenly cracked opened and wept cold tears of bittersweet regret.

There was a crash and a streaking light running though the sky and she was aware that they were now in the clearing that held the black stone. It was fitting, that it should be raining. It had rained that night too, she remembered. And every time she'd seen this moment in her nightmares, there was rain as well. She was glad there was some now, so that she wouldn't be disappointed. And she turned from him, identity forgotten, and remained a mystery. There was something more important to do right now.

The sad stone in the distance beckoned her. So on heavy feet, she made her way slowly to the base and knelt. She knew the dark figure wouldn't come, but he would watch as she wept for a crime she was sure he hated her for. The newly forming mud shifted under her weight as she dared to let her eyes see, for the first time, the true extent of her crimes. Unbeknownst to her, her fingers quaked with a residual fear that haunted her in her dreams; and there it was, engraved in the stone with aching finality. With outstretched hands hovering just above the smooth surface of rock that glistened as the rain slid off, she trembled at the names etched for all eternity. She didn't dare let the tears that threatened to spill in the rain. She knew if she started, it would never end and she would drown the village in her tears.

Through her hazy eyes, she could see those seven characters that created the face that haunted her everyday. She let her hand stay just above the stone, for fear of what touching it would mean. So instead her fingers itched to trace the characters of the all too familiar name. As she passed over each character, she let her sore, lonesome voice form the sounds that made it a name to be feared. "Hy-u-u-ga Hi-na-ta."


	12. Memories

**Title: **Sakura's Home  
** Author:** Winter Ashby (_rosweldrmr_)  
**Disclaimer: **Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto-sama.** I don't own anything** about Naruto, this is just for fun and if I did own Naruto I wouldn't have to right this, because I would have a team of very talented people turning this into a saga right now...  
**Rating: **K+  
**Warning**: this not only has spoilers until Manga 270ish, but it's kind of required for you to know what's going on. I use a lot of the Gaara mission, just made it AUish.  
**Summary: **Sakura was kicked out of Konoha five years ago but now has been asked to return… She will meet old friends and be faced with the consequences of her actions. Future AU Sakura centric. No pairings, and you need to be up to date in the manga and series.  
**Authors Notes:** I hope you all like this. The truth is finally revealed.

**

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**

**Chapter 12 - Memories**

Then she fell, with a resounding, graceless thud to meet the sopping grass. Her body shook with the racking sobs that emerged from her throat. The world washed away and she was left with a name and memory that she would never want to forget but would dream of time-traveling abilities for the rest of her life. She could feel the sweet reprieve of darkness taking her into its realm. She didn't fight as the world around her dimmed.

But it was the figure in the distance as she slipped into a self-induced meditative state she feared. It seemed like no time had passed as the pretty girl with the dark hair emerged from the tree line.

"_Good evening, Hinata-san." Sakura greeted her guest with genuine happiness. The young girl with ravel black hair stands just at the clearing of her make-shift home. It's only a simple cottage, but she makes does with what she has. So she smiles, in the setting sun and greets her warmly as ever. _

"_Good evening, Sakura-san." Hinata smiles and something lights up in her white eyes. Her jacket swallows her petite form. The coming night brings with it a coming thunderstorm and restless breeze. _

"_What brings you out this far?" The coming storm brings a cool breeze that picks up their hair and dances it around their faces. Sakura smiles in spite of herself. She doesn't allow herself to smile much anymore, but wholly focuses her attention to training. But she's been alone for so long, she can't help but appreciate the company of another person. She moves aside the hanging straw door of the cottage and invites her fellow kunoichi in. _

_Hinata slips into the shade of the little home and bows lightly. It doesn't look much better inside though. The fading sun leaks in through gapping holes in the sealing as she looks around and thinks of what to say. "N-no." She nervously purses her two index fingers together, and Sakura can feel her turmoil rising. _

"_What's wrong, Hinata-san?" The growing sense of unease that Sakura can feel coming from the other woman is not unusual, but still un-welcomed. "Did something happen to Naruto?" It's quite common knowledge amongst the shinobi their age that Hinata has been in love with him for quite some time. But it dawns on Sakura that as nice as it is to have a visitor, Hinata and she were never really all that close; so what would bring her all the way out here?_

"_No, nothing like that." It always amazes Sakura how one moment she is this timid little creature, so frail you're always concerned that you might break her. But then, an instant later, and usually with the aid of the word 'Naruto' she becomes so strong it makes you step back. Sakura is new at sensing chakra's, but in most of the other shinobi she's known since childhood, it's easy to recognize them and their power level. But with Hinata, there a constant fluxuation, so much so that Sakura is unsure how powerful the young woman has become. "Um, how are you doing out here? It-it must be hard to be alone."_

_Sakura smiles, she's gotten this question so many times, but it still reminds her that there are people who care about her. "I'm alright, Hinata-san. Thank you for coming. I don't have many visitors these days." She turns her back and begins to pick up some of the scrolls and weapons that are lying around. _

"_How- how long has it been since…" she doesn't finish, and just like that her chakra drops to nearly nothing. Sakura has never experienced such a shifting strength before. _

"_Well, he left almost three years ago, so I've been here for one and a half." She doesn't let herself say his name. She hasn't since the day she left her home and her family to practice her jutsu. She'd heard whispers about the elder's growing concern with her research. And she's even been visited by Tsunade, asking her to give up on her jutsu. _

"_Sakura-san, is it true… what people are saying?" her standing form, just over Sakura's shoulder is apprehensive and unsure. She can feel her power once again begin to rise. "Have you abandoned Konoha to train on this jutsu that takes power from nature?" So there have been rumors. She'd always though there were, but this is the first time she's actually heard them. _

"_No, I would never abandon Konoha. I'm doing this for the village; I will be able to heal anyone with this jutsu. Don't you see, Hinata-san? I'm going to be able to save him, and then he can come back to Konoha too." Her green eyes sparkle with all the hope that has been driving her for so long. There's almost a manic tone to her voice, like she's trying to convince herself about what she's saying. _

"_But Sakura-san, the elders say the jutsu is- is-- it's dangerous!" there is a sudden burst of power from the raven haired girl standing in her lonely little cottage. But then it's gone again, drifting on the breeze. "There's been talk about- about ex- expelling you from the village."_

_This does come as a shock to her. "Why? How could they do that, I would never hurt anyone. Hinata-san, I'm doing this for the good of the village. Think about all the lives I can save, all the good I can do. I'll be more powerful than even Tsunade-sama." Her eyes shine wide with desperation that they other girl missed until that point. The sun is all but gone now so Sakura lights a lantern and places it on the lonely table. _

"_Is- is that what this- is about, Sakura-san?" her power drops to a minuscule amount and Sakura can practically feel the sadness sweeping off her in waves. "P- Power?" Her last word holds all the pain she refused to let her eyes show. She knows what that quest has cost the village already, and Sakura is sickened by the thought that she could be considered part of that problem._

_Sakura can feel her own contempt rising at the implication. "No! I'm doing this to save lives, and if the elders don't approve then let them come here and tell me that I'm not longer a hidden leaf!" She'd never admit it, but there was a tiny part of her that almost broke just then. She could feel her own fears of Sasuke and Naruto coming to fruition in her own mind. "I have no interest in power." She lies remarkably easily to herself._

"_Then, please Sakura-san, stop. Naruto is heart broken already. First, Sasuke and then… then the promise he broke. Ple- please, just come home. He needs you. So does Tsunade-sama, and Kakashi-sensei. You don't need to do this; we'll… we'll find another way to save S- Sas- him. But…not like this." Then there is a sudden swooshing sound as all the air in Sakura's lungs leaves her body. She is speechless; she's never heard Hinata talk so much or be so confidant in her entire life. _

"_Hinata-san." Sakura stood for what felt like a million years as the world continued to spin without her. She felt suddenly so left out, just what had she been missing from her old life. She had a sudden urge to see everyone; she couldn't even remember how long it had been since she was in town. But then the moment passed, and she was left with the suffocating anger that betrayal often carries. "Leave." _

_Sakura can already feel the growing anger being to mount in the pit of her stomach. Her lonely pain and the fear she's carried beings to bubble over into this new found resentment. "Sak- Sakura-san?" her pale white eyes shrink in distress. _

"_I said leave! I'll do it on my own! I don't need anyone's help. I'll save him all by myself; I don't need the elder's permission. I'm a medical kunoichi! Now get out! Get out, get out, get out!" she might have been vaguely aware of the similarities she held with a toddler, but she was past worrying about that. She could feel her body begin to draw in power from the earth at her feet. But she was unable to stop it. _

_Hinata's terrified gaze was fixated on the pink haired comrade in front of her. "Stop! Stop it, Sakura-san!" her timid voice pleaded as she could feel her energy leaving her body. She was pleading for her life. But Sakura realized too late that she didn't have control over the power she pulled in. It was like an avalanche roaring out of control. All she could do was stand there as the world emptied of life around her. _

"_Run. Run away, Hinata-san! I can't stop it, run!" she shouted past the sloshing of rushing power and dying life all around her. She could feel the familiar chakra fill her body with deafening defeat. She was not in control. "Please, run!" she gave one last desperate plea before the other girl finally gained the courage to jump from her stance only a few feet away and flee. _

_She made it through the door as the rain began to fall. Sakura watched past the swishing door as the other girl ran for her life. But then her eyes were forced shut as the surge of power filled her lungs. It was nearly suffocating the power that welled up inside her. But she could still feel the power draining from the other girl. She clamped her nails into her fist, drawing blood and pleading desperately with God to stop the flow of power. _

_She couldn't stop the influx of energy or where it came from; she shook violently as her body began to bubble over with the excess power. It was useless to fight against it. And yet she did, desperately, willingly, and with all the power she still had. A chilling scream escaped her lungs and then there was nothing. _

_The power stopped, the rain poured and the only one left standing was her. Faster than thoughts could form, she was moving. The rain felt like needles against her skin as she ran towards the fading chakra of her friend. And there, in the clearing, a body lay crumpled on the ground. The unmoving, familiar purple jacket and pale skin was terrifying. She dropped to her knees next to this broken, bleeding, dying girl and took her in her arms. _

"_Hinata, wake up. Hinata, please!" she pleaded with the passing time and pounding rain to give her a chance to go back and change it. "Please, I didn't mean to. I couldn't control it. Please, please, please." She wasn't sure what she was pleading for. Please don't die, please don't leave her alone, please let her go back, please let time stop, please just let her live. Tears fell with the rain as the white eyes finally opened a fraction and gazed up at pink and pain. _

"_Sa- Sakura…" the sound of her own name was cut short by the violent ripping sound of her own heart breaking as the blood spilled from her lips, and nose, and eyes. It dripped from her ears and seemed to just seep from everywhere. The cracks of torn flesh that marred her prefect skin were sickening. _

"_Shhhh, don't talk. It's okay. I'm going to save you, I can save you." She didn't wait to hear the protest that came from the timid ninja but closed her eyes and concentrated the massive amount of chakra now coursing through her body and tried to force it into her fallen comrade. But it was in vein, no matter how hard she pushed or how much chakra she managed to exude, there was no change. "How can this be… how can this be happening? Why can't I heal you?" she cried and began to rock them together in the cold rain._

"_Sakura…" Hinata's soft, melodic voice was rippled with pain as it slipped from her bleed lips. But then there were no more words, but motion. Her slender hand was rising and trembling and reaching. It seemed like it took forever for her finger to rest lightly on Sakura's right temple, just at her diamond. She doesn't know what this action means, but she in humbled in the new presence of a dying smile from Hinata. _

"_This wasn't supposed to happen; it wasn't supposed to do this. I did it to save him. I never meant to hurt you, please, please!" But Sakura was alone; hers was the only heartbeat left in the field of fallen angels and crushed dreams. The smile still graced her lips as she shook the still body of a lifeless woman. "Help me! Please, someone help me!!!" her deafening screams filtered through the rain and echoed off the empty sky. So she sat, holding her broken body and cried like her own pain could turn back time. She held her tight and dreamed of summer days and the little secret glances she'd give Naruto. But that was all over now, she was gone. And Sakura was a murder. _


	13. Murderer

**Title: **Sakura's Home  
** Author:** Winter Ashby (_rosweldrmr_)  
**Disclaimer: **Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto-sama.** I don't own anything** about Naruto, this is just for fun and if I did own Naruto I wouldn't have to right this, because I would have a team of very talented people turning this into a saga right now...  
**Rating: **K+  
**Warning**: this not only has spoilers until Manga 270ish, but it's kind of required for you to know what's going on. I use a lot of the Gaara mission, just made it AUish.  
**Summary: **Sakura was kicked out of Konoha five years ago but now has been asked to return… She will meet old friends and be faced with the consequences of her actions. Future AU Sakura centric. No pairings, and you need to be up to date in the manga and series.  
**Authors Notes:** I know it's been a while. Please forgive the lack of updates lately, things have been hectic.

**

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**

**Chapter 13 - Murderer **

_It wasn't until a long time had passed and many stars fell from their perch in the rising moon's empire that she was moved. The body was stiff in her arms, so she rose on shaking legs and walked forward. Through the thick trees that led her home, back to a world that she was no longer connected to, holding the body of a woman that would never get to see home again. She was a murderer, she was a killer. She let the tears fall as the path dripped away under her feet. She marched forward with an unknown desire to see home. She wished for Tsunade, Kakashi and Naruto. She wished she could stop the tears or the horrible welling of vomit in the pit of her stomach. _

_So she walked until the gates rose in the distance and then there were shouts, screaming and bells sounding. She was a murderer. There were coming to get her. With a great, empty hole in her soul, she marched on to meet her fate. Resolved, and only slightly aware of the rest of the world, she traveled until the tips of her toes touched Konoha soil. That was the last time she would touch home for five years. _

_Those same, familiar, frightening sunglasses were the first of many heart wrenching cries she would hear this night. She doesn't know what he says, but she is sure that if she could see his eyes, surely she'd die from the hate that boiled over and shot from every inch of his body. Then he is moving, faster than she can see and stronger than she can understand. His warm hands and shaking arms circle the body in hers and in one, swift motion her empty hands hang in the air like she is begging for something. _

_She feels oddly light without the other girl's body resting in the cradle of her arms. "I… I…" her voice is thick and marred with tears and pain that colors her normal tone a dark shade of blood red. She shivers, because she knows he can see it to – the guilt that grips at the corners of her eyes and explodes from the slant of her soul. He can see the murderer in her. "Shino-kun."_

"_Stop right there!" There is another voice, and the blur of white fur against the dark sky. Drawn by the scent of blood that drips from her clothes and stains her hands – he stands. Vengeful hate glistening in his canine slit eyes, Kiba is drawn to his fallen comrade. He retrieves her body from his only remaining teammate and gently brushes his fingers over her cold cheek. _

_Now Shino stands, bodiless and angry. He lunges, kunai drawn, and air slipping past his face rustles his hair. Sakura tilts her head and finds it odd that she notices his hair at this moment, an instant before she is run through with metal and justice. She doesn't pay attention to the pain, or the blood that runs in thick rivers from the hole in her stomach. Instead she reaches out her trembling hand and touches his hair. She smiles a broken, blood-soaked smile, because it's soft. _

_Even behind the glasses, she can tell his eyes are wide as he leaps away and reaches for a handful of skuriken. But before he can strike again, his bloody hands are caught in a poof of smoke. Just beyond the fading moonlight, she can make out the shimmering silver spikes and dark blue mask of her former sensei. _

"_Kakashi-san." In only the time it takes to form his name, there are three more entrances. Genma, Kotetsu, and Gai also appear to restrain Shino as he threatens to break free of Kakashi's protective hold. Genma stands directly in front of him, two fingers sealing his feet to the earth, Gai holds back Shino's arm which grips the shuriken, and Kotetsu's arm is wrapped around his neck. _

"_Enough, Shino-kun." Kakashi is the first to speak, deep and threatening low in his throat. He turns to face Sakura as her blood pours down her shirt and soaks the earth. She can feel the power coursing through her veins with latent chakra reserves. She could easily stop the bleeding, or the inevitable death this wound carries. If only she had the will power to do so. _

_It only takes a few more seconds of waiting before they are joined by Asuma, Anko and Kurenai. Kiba still sits, lost in thought and silent prayers for the girl she killed. She is queasy and unsteady on her feet. Kurenai and Asuma stand before Kiba and try to pry the body from his firm grasp. It's useless, because he looks right at Sakura and swears with ever fiber of his being that he will kill her one day. She believes him._

_She's not sure what comes next, Tsunade's hand on her wound, or the quiet tears of Shizune as she finally pries Hinata from Kiba's shaking hands. But in the rising sun they are joined by even more angry eyes that are white and painfully familiar. Haishi, Hanabi, and Neji arrive in time to see the timid heir to the Hyuuga family still and lifeless. She can feel their hate permeate through the morning air and twist around her neck. They wish for her death, and so does she. _

_With the rising sun and closed wound, she remembers felling the metal shackles that weigh heavy on her wrists and ankles. There is a fierce argument in the background. Tsunade, Kakashi, Genma, and Shizune stand on her side and call for an investigation. But on the other side, the members of the Hyuuga Clan, Shino, Kiba, and even Kurneai are calling for her death. It is only the presence of Asuma, Anko, Kotetsu, and Gai who keep more blood from spilling. Sakura is quietly calm at the prospect of being executed. She waits for the end. _

_Soon it's clear; there will be no trial, or jail sentence. The angry eyes - behind glasses, just above facial markings, white and red are rancorous are clamoring for swift punishment and her blood smeared across the dirt path that leads to a home that isn't hers anymore. There will no time for a conference with the elders, or anything for that matter. _

_Tsunade faces her, and asks questions she can't answer. "What happened?" "Were you attacked?" "Who did this?" Other inquiries that she knows she does not have the right response to. So she says nothing at all. With every second she remains quiet, the insinuations grow, and her guilt is solidified. But she can tell that Tsunade already knows what happened. Because from her proximity, she is the only one who can see the seal on her temple has spread. She knows what Sakura has done._

_So she sighs deep in her throat and in a firm, authoritative voice informs the crowd that she is now a criminal of Konoha. If she ever returns, she will be captured and held accountable for her actions. But as of the dawn of this day, she is an outcast, a wandering shinobi with no home. She will be spared, and it seems that this decision make no party happy. Perhaps that is a clear sign that it's the right choice. _

_She is led, still bound by a party of people who will see her off. In her jumbled mind, still full of images of Hinata's gasping last breathes she faintly recalls the farewells she receives. She never gets a chance to see Tsunade again, after her verdict is proclaimed she is gone to attend to the official business of banishing her former student. She doesn't know when the others come, or how they know, but soon she's faced with all the people she would never want to leave behind. But she has no choice anymore. This is the result of her actions. _

_Kakashi is the first to move, once her feet are held steady against the dirt path. He lowers his head, unable to look her blood covered face in the eyes. He mumbles a "Sayonara." and disappears in the forest with nothing but the overwhelming knowledge that she has let him down. She crumbles just a little more from the inside out. _

_Lee touches her arm and lowers his eyes to examine the hole in her shirt. He can see her blood and so much more from another person. He sighs and allows one single tear of regret or anger to flow from his huge round eyes before he leaves without a word. But in the back of her mind, she can still feel his warm hand on her arm and breaks a little more. _

_Ino stands, defiant, and angry. She's never seen that kind of rage from her before. It's so strong that it infuses with her aura and radiates from her pupil-less blue eyes. She stares at her for a long moment and then shoves a red sash into her chained hands. "We're not rivals anymore." Then she too is gone, lost to a sea of painful memories and unabashed regret. _

_Iruka stands just behind Naruto now. But she barely sees him past the proud, mournful tears that stain her only remaining teammate's face. She doesn't speak – she couldn't for them and she can not for him either. He just watches her and weeps for the lonely reality that is slowly settling in his mind. He is truly alone now. She's given him this grief and pain. She has caused his strong hands to quiver, because she knows that deep down, he might have grown to love the timid young woman in her stead. She stole that chance from him, that life he will never get is bloodied in her hands. _

_Neji, Shino, and Izumo watch as she remains impassive at the goodbyes she receives and seethe with odium. They jerk her to face the horizon of the home she will never see again but it's Shino who is still splattered with her blood that informs her that if she ever returns – he will kill her gladly. She believes him. _

_Neji watches closely with his white eyes as Izumo unbinds her and drops her to her knees in the dirt. He slowly informs her of the many eyes of the Hyuuga clan. She will be hunted, wherever she goes, there will always be an ally of the clan, a family member who moved away who will watch her and wait for the day that her blood will run cold and be traded for the life she took. She nods, because she knows that Neji will make sure she is hunted. She is glad._

_Naruto stands behind her, in the distant of her past and watches as she rises on heavy feet to met the fate of her future, a future that will not include him. He is oddly quiet, and she wishes mildly that he would smile one last time before she fades into his past. He doesn't and she can feel the crack that started at her heart split her soul in half all the way to the ground under her feet. _

_She is now irrevocably broken. She knows she will never be whole, so she gathers her strength and leaps from her former home with nothing but her grief, a red sash, and a green frog coin purse that somehow found its way into her hands. She weeps openly as the branches and leaves scrape away the outer layer of skin on her face and she is reborn, broken, bleeding, pink and red in the dawn of the darkest day she's ever seen. _


	14. Interlude

**Title: **Sakura's Home  
** Author:** Winter Ashby (_rosweldrmr_)  
**Disclaimer: **Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto-sama.** I don't own anything** about Naruto, this is just for fun and if I did own Naruto I wouldn't have to right this, because I would have a team of very talented people turning this into a saga right now...  
**Rating: **K+  
**Warning**: this not only has spoilers until Manga 270ish, but it's kind of required for you to know what's going on. I use a lot of the Gaara mission, just made it AUish.  
**Summary: **Sakura was kicked out of Konoha five years ago but now has been asked to return… She will meet old friends and be faced with the consequences of her actions. Future AU Sakura centric. No pairings, and you need to be up to date in the manga and series.  
**Authors Notes:** It's been FOREVER since I last updated. But there is a good reason for that. I've gone through, and revised all the previous chapters. There will no longer be any Japanese words used improperly. (For tiny rant on this... see the footnote of the first chapter.) I dedicate this massive change to the reviewers who have been so _kind_ in letting me know their opinion. Atra Nox, Demeter1, SpiritualEnergy, qqq102, and probably more that were just too nice to tell me to shove it. Also, finally I reveal the guy who hates Sakura. Interestingly enough, no one got it. (I'm proud of that.) So enjoy this, and as you can see I'm still working on it. There will be more updates soon.

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**Chapter 14 - Interlude**

Sakura was finally brought out of her own mind with a strong touch on her shoulder. She turned, expecting to see the hooded figure and insensible aura. But instead, there was the soft skin of a slender, female hand. Just past her delicate wrist there was a strong woman, with brown hair tied in two buns on either side of her head, and two large scrolls that emerged from behind her back.

"Ten-Ten-san?" she looked sad, in through the dissipating grey sky. Her soft eyes rounded at the corners and she offered a sideways half-smile.

"It's been a while, Sakura-chan." Sakura scanned the surrounding foliage for the mysterious hooded figure, but found no trace of him. She wasn't surprised; she already knew she couldn't sense him. But Ten-Ten's warm voice and malice-free aura was soothing. So she smiled warmly at the woman who had grown beautiful and strong in her absence.

"I hope Kiba-kun has been treating you alright." And just like that, everything fell into place. Who else in the village could have held such contempt for her? Everything made so much sense now, distant eyes that followed her, the focus that it must have taken to hone his particular skills, and the subtle sniff.

With that, a figure emerged from the shadows, accompanied by a large white dog. "Inuzuka Kiba-san?" She let the shock sink into her tone as she finally voiced the revelation that invaded her mind. She turned farther over her shoulder to find him leaning against a tree. She was mildly aware that the rain stopped. But the still-drenched cloak clung to him as he removed his mask.

"Yo." he responded for the first time in the voice she'd come to know so well as a teenager. The dog specialist that Naruto beat in his chuunin exam was suddenly all too familiar. As apparently he saw fit to release his chakra, she nearly fell to her knees. He had indeed become quite powerful.

"Akamaru?" her tiny, shivering voice quaked as the world came back into focus. Akamaru was standing just next to him; at least she assumed it was Akamaru. He too had grown quite a bit. She could have kicked herself for not understanding sooner.

She remembered the last time she'd seen him, the night she killed, the night he became an avenger. He promised her, with bloodshot eyes and the limp body hanging in his arms that the next time he saw her, he'd kill her. She felt like vomiting then, knowing that he was the one who escorted her here. She felt dirty and unworthy to grieve for her mistakes in the presence of someone she'd hurt so much.

So she righted her clothes, and proceeded to leave this circle of memories she would never outlive and marched on, to meet her fate. In the wake of the rain, all the leaves and even the sky seemed brighter, somehow. Kiba and Ten-Ten walked behind her, and she was grateful for a moment alone to appreciate how beautiful her former home really was.

She looked to the sky and breatheed in the fresh rain-soaked air. _Today is a good day to die._ Just behind her, she could hear Kiba quietly explaining the situation to his comrade.

"You're going to save Kakashi-san?" Ten-Ten's voice holds a distinct edge of hope in it, and Sakura's heart sunk just a little.

"Yes." She paused and turned to face the man she was nearly terrified of only a few hours ago. She didn't say anything. She was sure that whatever she said, it wouldn't be enough to make up for what she'd taken from him. So she did the only thing she knew how. She dropped to her knees and spread her palms flat against the dirt. Then, she lowered her forehead to rest on her thumbs and begged for forgiveness.

"Sakura…" Ten-Ten's voice is distant, and shocked. But still Sakura didn't move. She could sense Kiba's aura now, and it erupted into a lance of hate and malice she'd rarely ever experienced before. And his righteous anger rained on her and beat her farther into the earth at his feet.

"Stop." He spoke to her in a sharp warning that finally brought her from the formal bow. "Stand up." His roughly took her arm and pulled her to her feet. And she didn't understand why he souldn't let her express her sorrow. "It doesn't matter to me how much you mourn. You are a criminal. You will always be a criminal. And the only reason my claws haven't ripped into yet is your duty to this village." He was so close then that she didn't have to sense his aura to know his feelings. She sould see them all dance through his canine eyes. "I hope you never make it out of Kakashi's mind. At least then, you'd die doing something good. But I swear to you, if by some miracle, you do make it out alive… I'll kill you myself." Then he released her from his hold and debilitating hate and she stumbled back.

"Kiba-kun!" Ten-Ten scolded him but Sakura no longer cared because she knew that he was right. And a part of her also wished for death in her last redeeming action. She wished to join Sasuke in her reform. She wished she could go back and change it all. She wished Hinata was alive instead of her. She wished so many things that don't matter at this point, because the past it just that… the past. And the present required her to focus on the task at hand. Kakashi.

They made the short journey back to Tsunade's office in silence. But it hadn't escaped Sakura's consciousness that Kiba had once again masked his chakra completely. She considered that he not only had honed this ability for himself, but Akamaru as well. And she wondered… would he have been this strong if she never killed Hinata? The irony sliced like a knife through her resolve, and she was sure he'd thought of the same thing before. It only made him more tragic in her eyes.

Ten-Ten smiled lightly just outside the office and hugged her softly. "Goodbye." Sakura nearly split at the seams, because it occurred to her then, that no one had hugged her like that in a long time. It was a welcoming, female embrace of old friends. It was also her silent eulogy. From here, Sakura knew she must face her own mortality for Kakashi's sake.

"Thank you, Ten-Ten-san." Sakura held her just a moment longer than she knew she should, but the gripping vice of impending death was a powerful deterrent from taking anything for granted. "Truly." Then she released her, and Ten-Ten turned from them to walk through Sakura's mind. This was the last time she would see her.

Tsunade faced the setting sun in her window. Her hands were clasped behind her, like a monumental pillar of strength. Sakura tried to memorize that moment, and the woman who was so strong that she could move the earth and sky. She wanted to ask Tsunade to give her parents a message when she was gone. But she couldn't bring herself to ask anymore from the woman who'd already given so much.

So she stepped through the door, Kiba at her back and tried not to think about how easy it would be for him to rip her apart. Instead she focused on the pale face that haunted her, even now. Kakashi's silver hair and masked face blazed in her mind like a mission banner. She would die for him. She would die to save him, just as Sasuke died to save Naruto. It was only right, it was only fair.

Finally, Tsunade turned, grim and sullen. Her warm eyes swept over Sakura like she was inspecting her. "Ino has already been informed of the situation. She's waiting for you at Kakashi's. As you requested, I haven't told Naruto of the risks, but he insisted on being there. Shizune, Chouji, and Neji will also be present for the procedure."

Sakura's heart sank even farther. "Neji? But why…" she didn't finish her thought. The look on Tsunade's face made the reasons quite clear. He was sent as a representative of the Hyuuga Clan to make sure that she didn't try anything, like using her seal. And very likely, he would kill her if it came to it. She knew he would do it, without hesitation. Just as many other hidden leaves would. "Understood."

"Kiba will accompany you to Kakashi's. Good luck, Sakura." But that was all. No _goodbye_ or _don't die_. Tsunade didn't even tell her that _she was proud of what Sakura was doing_ or _she would forgive her in time_. Just _good luck, and see you in the next life_.

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama." Sakura nodded, obediently.

"Dismissed." She could just make out the sound of Tsunade's voice past the roar of blood in her ears. But she was already turned, and marching on through the door to meet her fate, whatever that may be. She wasn't afraid, not really. She was just tired, and ready. She was ready to sleep and rest. She was ready to pay the price of the life she took and face the consequences she ran from all those years ago. She was ready to die.

Or so she thought.


	15. The Request

**Title: **Sakura's Home  
** Author:** Winter Ashby (_rosweldrmr_)  
**Disclaimer: **Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto-sama.** I don't own anything** about Naruto, this is just for fun and if I did own Naruto I wouldn't have to right this, because I would have a team of very talented people turning this into a saga right now...  
**Rating: **K+  
**Warning**: this not only has spoilers until Manga 270ish, but it's kind of required for you to know what's going on. I use a lot of the Gaara mission, just made it AUish.  
**Summary: **Sakura was kicked out of Konoha five years ago but now has been asked to return… She will meet old friends and be faced with the consequences of her actions. Future AU Sakura centric. No pairings, and you need to be up to date in the manga and series.  
**Authors Notes: **Just a little intermediate chapter. Things will pick up again soon. Enjoy.

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**Chapter 15 – The Request**

Sakura stepped through the threshold of Kakashi's tiny apartment and took a moment to even her breathing. Ino stood in the far corner, away from Kakashi's body, Chouji next to her. Her bright blonde hair seemed out of place, like it was an insult to the inevitable death that she faced. But she quickly looked away, not able to met Ino's gaze.

Neji stood nearer the window. His white eyes watched the rising sun in the distance. He hadn't acknowledged her presence. But she knew he'd sensed her coming. Sakura sighed, deep in her throat and turned to see Shizune standing next to Kakashi's bed, checking his vitals.

In all the years she'd known Shizune, she'd never seen her look quite as sullen as she did then. She turned her face from the bed, and watched Sakura enter the room, wordlessly. But Sakura could still hear exactly what those solid black eyes were saying. _Don't let Tsunade-sama down_. And Sakura had no intention of doing so.

Kiba stood at the door, watching as she entered, and still boring holes into her back. Neji turned, nodded and then Kiba was gone. Sakura almost thanked Neji for getting him to leave. But then again, she knew that the only reason Kiba left was because Neji was now going to watch her, waiting for her to make a mistake so he could kill her.

She almost felt sorry to disappoint them. But then she saw Naruto sitting on the foot of Kakashi's bed, looking wholly broken and she decided to change her mind. She wouldn't let him down. She wouldn't let him lose Kakashi. It wasn't as if he was going to really _lose_ her, after all, she'd been gone for five years now.

What Naruto really needed now was Kakashi to wake up so that they could go on living like they did after she was banished. She was suddenly overwhelmed with the ridiculous notion to ask Naruto if he ever tried to find her, like he did for Sasuke. But she took another look around at the people in the room, and thought better of it.

It didn't really matter if he'd tried to find her. She was the one who made the mistake; she was the one who had blood on her hands. She thought of her words earlier that day to Konohamaru.

_If you are not prepared to see blood then you should not draw. It is not a choice that you should take lightly. If you mean to hurt someone, which sometimes you must, then you must also expect to see blood on your hands._

She had more blood on her hands than she cared to recall. But it was time to move past all that. So she wiped her hands against her clothes, as if she could make the sensation of blood dripping off her hands disappear and stepped forward. She looked over at Ino and Chouji and felt a swell of happiness for them. They found love, even when such a thing seemed impossible for a shinobi.

"I'm ready to begin." Everyone turned at her words, as if they'd all been lost in their own thoughts too. Ino nodded, and moved away from Chouji. Neji turned from the window at last and pinned her with a horrible kind of glare. Shizune only nodded as well and went back to her clipboard.

But Naruto seemed stuck. His eyes lingered over her, like he was transfixed. "Wait." He spoke quietly, and took Sakura's hands in his. He pulled her away from the rest of them and looked down into her eyes. She felt so cold then, knowing that there was someone looking back at him. She would never be the girl she was, the girl he first loved. And she was very sorry to disappoint him yet again.

She always disappointed him.

"I want you to promise me something, Sakura-chan." His voice didn't seem like his own. It was far too rich, too old, and too mature to be his. It was the voice of a man who lived a hard life, and still managed to grow into a powerful ninja. "Promise me you're coming back."

And her heart sank and she was terrified that he could see her lip trembling. She knew he'd never let her go if he knew the truth. So she nodded. He released the breathe he'd been holding and gripped her hands tighter.

"Then… good luck, Sakura-chan." She nearly cried then. Because she hadn't been able to love him when she was younger, and she regretted that now. He would make kind and gentle husband someday. She wished she could still tell him to love Hinata, but it was her fault that she was gone. So she just smiled and touched his face softly.

"You're going to make a great Hokage someday." His mouth opened, like he was going to say something. Maybe he'd noticed that it was a goodbye. Maybe he was going to kiss her, she wasn't sure. But she turned away and sought Ino's eyes.

"It's time." Sakura watched Ino and knew that she was feeling guilty about not telling Naruto. No doubt everyone else in the room was well aware of what Sakura was about to do. Everyone, that is, except the one person that loved her the most.

Shizune stood, scribbled one last note and then backed away so that Ino could position herself between Kakashi and Sakura. Neji finally stood with his back to the window, arms crossed and watched. Chouji stood just behind Ino, his hand resting on the middle of her back to support her.

"Ready?" Ino asked, and Sakura, not trusting her own voice simply nodded and took a long, dragging breathe to clear her mind of the image of Naruto, Hinata, Kakashi and Sasuke. She wasn't sure exactly what was going to happen, but she knew she didn't want to transfer any of her fear, or pain to Ino. She didn't deserve that.

"Okay, here we go." Ino took a deep, calming breathe and looked over Sakura's shoulder to Naruto. "Naruto, take care of Sakura's body."

"I'd prefer it if Neji would do that." Sakura interjected.


	16. Phase Two

**Title: **Sakura's Home  
**Author:** Winter Ashby (_rosweldrmr_)  
**Disclaimer: **Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto-sama.** I don't own anything** about Naruto, this is just for fun and if I did own Naruto I wouldn't have to right this, because I would have a team of very talented people turning this into a saga right now...  
**Rating: **K+  
**Warning**: this not only has spoilers until Manga 270ish, but it's kind of required for you to know what's going on. I use a lot of the Gaara mission, just made it AUish.  
**Summary: **Sakura was kicked out of Konoha five years ago but now has been asked to return… She will meet old friends and be faced with the consequences of her actions. Future AU Sakura centric. No pairings, and you need to be up to date in the manga and series.  
**Authors Notes: **This is for Teen Titan Girl who was kind enough to remind me that it was time for an update. I'm at my new job doing this so I didn't have as much time for editing as usual. Forgive me. I will probablly end up getting the whole thing BETA'd by one person when I'm done to check for continuity and all that. Oh yeah, sorry for all the ANGST in this chapter, but I just couldn't resist. You know you love it, otherwise why would you be reading this depressing-ass-story, right. More to come soon!

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**C****hapter 16 – Phase Two**

"What?" Naruto and Neji spoke at the same time.

"It would be more appropriate if Neji would watch me than Naruto." And she could tell that Neji understood what she meant. He was her warden. He was the one there to make sure that she didn't try to do anything unusual. No doubt he was chosen because he was now the successor of the Hyuuga clan, but also because he was the one capable of _watching_ her chakra flow as well.

"Understood." Neji moved forward and stood behind her. She could feel Naruto begin to protest, but thankfully he stopped himself and sat in a chair to her right. She hoped he understood too. But more than that, she didn't want Naruto to be the one holding her lifeless body in the end. That was much better suited for someone like Neji, who had a legitimate reason for wanting her dead.

Neji's hands hovered just behind her back, and she nearly shivered being that close to someone who hated her so much. But she suppressed the urge and turned slightly so that she could see Neji out of the corner of her eye.

"Thank you." She whispered to her left and closed her eyes. She knew Neji would hear her, even if he didn't want to be thanked by her.

"Don't you dare leave Naruto alone. Send Kakashi back right away." His smooth voice was very low so that Sakura leaned back little to make out what he said clearly. She nodded; she had no intention of dying in vain. Even if that meant she had to use her seal. She didn't know how she knew, but she could just tell that Neji would let her use it to save Kakashi if she had to. But she also knew he'd kill her for it. It was worth the consequences if she could just bring Kakashi back for Naruto, and everyone.

"Ino, I'm counting on you." Sakura spoke with confidence that betrayed her trembling heart.

"You don't have to tell me that." She smirked like she used to when they were younger and it eased Sakura's heart more than she could explain. "Ninpou: Shintenshin no Jutsu!" But instead of pointing her hands _at _Sakura, Ino pointed them to herself, so that Sakura's mind would be transferred into herself.

It was a strange feeling, being pulled from your own mind. If she had her inner self, she was sure it would be screaming 'Shannaro' but as it was, she'd lost that a long time ago. Perhaps she didn't need an inner self anymore, because she'd gotten strong enough to do what she wanted instead of suppressing it like she used to. Maybe if she had an inner self, she wouldn't have killed Hinata.

But these were useless thoughts that flooded her mind as she could almost feel herself floating in midair between the space that separated them. Then, she was inside Ino, looking through her eyes at her own body falling back into Neji's arms.

It took a moment to acclimate to the surroundings. She could just barely make out the feel of a strong hand on her back and a deep voice in her ear.

"Are you okay? Ino, can you hear me?" It was Chouji, helping to support her. She could feel the presence of someone else with her. It was Ino, her strong, definite personality was fighting for dominance, and Sakura, knowing what had to be done, allowed it. And she felt like she was being shoved back, farther into her mind so that she could still see Naruto looking over Neji's shoulder and touching what was her face, but it was hazy like there was a filter that was separating her from seeing clearly.

"Success." Sakura felt as if she'd spoken it, but the voice was strange. It sounded like it was synthesized. Their two voiced melted together and Shizune gave Ino's body a strange glance. "Beginning phase two."

And her eyes shut, so that Sakura was left in darkness.

_"Sakura." There was a voice echoing through the dark, and the slight blip of light in the distance. _

_"Ino?" Sakura held out her hands, searching for Ino. "Where are you. I can't see you." _

_"I'm here, Sakura. Follow the light." And Sakura could see it, the light blipped again. That was where Ino was, that was where she needed to be. She wondered what this must feel like to Ino, who had someone else crawling through her mind. _

_Sakura supposed Ino was positioning her on the part of her cortex that she transferred in the Shin Ran Shin no jutsu. And Sakura took a minute to appreciate just how powerful her former best friend was. _

_And suddenly, she was bathed in a soft blue light. She could see Ino standing under the light, in a white gown. Her long blonde hair flowing over her shoulders, and her pale blue eyes seemed to glow. _

_"Ino?" She blinked and took another step forward. "Is that how you really see yourself in your own mind?" Ino laughed and shook her head. She looked down at the dress and touched it. _

_"No, Sakura." She reached a hand and took one of Sakura's. "This is how you see me." Then she smiled, and let a tear roll down her face. "This is your mind trying to synthesize with mine." And she pushed her away so that Sakura stumbled. "You mustn't allow yourself to do that. You have to stay singular, Sakura. I can't go with you." And an image of Chouji flashed behind Ino in the blue light. _

_"I know. I'm just… just…" _

_"Scared, I know." Ino finished her thought. "I can feel it." _

_"I don't want to die." Sakura felt like a child, begging for something they didn't really need. It wasn't fair for her to ask that. _

_"The longer you stay, the harder it will be for you to stay singular, which means the harder it will be for me to separate myself from you. You have a mission, Sakura." And Kakashi flashed behind her now. And Sakura could feel her resolve begin to build again. _

_"Yes, I do." And she took a breath and focused on pulling all the pieces of her that floated away back to her. She could feel her body begin to assemble from the darkness just beyond the light. "Tell Naruto that I'm sorry I couldn't love him. I wish I had. And tell Kakashi that he didn't lose me, I'll always be inside him. And tell Tsunade that she was the greatest teacher I ever had." Ino had more tears on her face now. _

_"I will. I promise." She wiped the tears away with a long, white, flowing sleeve. "I'm sorry things had to turn out like this. I wish I could go with you." It wasn't until then that Sakura heard another sound. It was a double heart beat. But it wasn't her own, she could feel that. This was coming from Ino. _

_"Oh, Ino. I didn't know." She could feel another life inside Ino. But not like Sakura was inside her mind. This was a life that was growing inside Ino's body. "You're going to be a great mother. Tell Chouji not to give him too many potato chips." And Ino laughed through her tears. _

_"It's time." Sakura folded her hands and prayed silently for Ino's safety. She wondered if Chouji knew. But she knew, if he had, he wouldn't have let her do this. She was thankful to Ino for hiding it from him so that Sakura could save Kakashi. _

_"Prepare yourself, and remember to keep yourself whole. No matter what." Ino turned, and her long white gown was gone. And Sakura was left alone. She focused all her energy on keeping every piece of her mind intact. _

---

Ino opened her eyes, and positioned her hands at Kakashi's body. "Ninpou: Shin Ran Shin no jutsu!" her body fell back against Chouji and she turned to look him in the eyes. She blinked a few times and shook her heard. "Phase two, successful." Her voice was stretched, like she was trying to make it sound even. But it still quivered at the edges. She looked at Chouji, and then over at Naruto who was watching them intently. Chouji nodded, and seemed to understand why a tear trickled down Ino's cheek. 

Chouji belt and wiped it away. "It's okay, Ino. Everything's going be okay." Ino buried her head in his shoulder and nodded.

"I know." There was a pause and she looked back up into his eyes. "Chouji, I'm pregnant."


	17. Mending Him

**Title: **Sakura's Home  
** Author:** Winter Ashby (_rosweldrmr_)  
**Disclaimer: **Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto-sama.** I don't own anything** about Naruto, this is just for fun and if I did own Naruto I wouldn't have to right this, because I would have a team of very talented people turning this into a saga right now...  
**Rating: **K+  
**Warning**: this not only has spoilers until Manga 270ish, but it's kind of required for you to know what's going on. I use a lot of the Gaara mission, just made it AUish.  
**Summary: **Sakura was kicked out of Konoha five years ago but now has been asked to return… She will meet old friends and be faced with the consequences of her actions. Future AU Sakura centric. No pairings, and you need to be up to date in the manga and series.  
**Authors Notes: **This chapter is where the Kakashi Gaiden from the manga becomes really important. I hope you all enjoy this. Not too far to go. I am still updating, don't worry. I won't let this fic die. I've been working on it for way too long.

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**Chapter 17 – Mending Him**

Sakura turned around in small circles in the dark. She was in a deep haze, but through the blurred images, she seemed to be caught in some kind of genjutsu. She looked down at her body, but it wasn't hers. She was wearing a different outfit, and she was shorter. There were bandages on each of her cheeks, and she had brown hair.

"Kai!" There was a familiar voice, and then the world cleared and it was Kakashi who was looking back at her. But he wasn't as Sakura had ever seen him. He was a boy. He had a bandage over his left eye. And there was another boy standing next to him. He had black hair, and red eyes. But he only had two sharingan in each eye, instead of three.

And Sakura realized then what was happening. He was reliving Kakashi's childhood, and she was now Rin. The other boy was Obito. She knew this, because there seemed to be something else inside her mind that told him this was Uchiha Obito.

"Kakashi… Obito…" And when she looked at Kakashi, she could feel her heart skip a beat. She loved him.

Sakura shook her head. That couldn't be right. This was Kakashi she was talking about. But the voice in her mind kept insisting that she loved him. She always had. It was then that Sakura's battered mind began to catch up. Rin loved Kakashi, not her.

"We came to save you, Rin. It's alright now." Obito spoke first, and Sakura was surprised to find that he reminded her of Naruto. They was his eyes sparkled when he looked at her, and his boyish features. Her heart tightened.

"Right, we'd better get out of here fast." Kakashi looked to the left, and Sakura could feel herself watching him. This girl loved him like she did Sasuke. Even at such a young age, she loved him already. Sakura knew this feeling; at it was no wonder to her now why Kakashi thought of her like Rin.

"Indeed that was a good combination. But you're still brats. You're right in my hands now." There was an evil, slick voice from behind them. Sakura looked past them and saw a tall, bloody man getting to his feet.

"Doton: Iwa yado kuzushi!" The man shouted, and the rocks that surrounded them in the clearing began to crumble away and fall towards them.

"Oh, damn!" Obito shouted over the roar of boulders falling.

"Everyone, get out of here, quickly!" Kakashi's warning was unnecessary. All three of them were running, shoulder to shoulder as fast as they could. Sakura didn't have time to think or even to react. The voice inside her already took action, as if it'd done this many time and knew it was coming.

It was then that she considered that it was Kakashi in her mind telling her these things, and not Rin. After all, how could Rin be inside him? More than likely it was Kakashi telling her things, and his anticipation of this moment. This was what he was forced to relive over and over.

Then it all seemed to happen at once. Kakashi was hit by a rock a fell. Obito pushed him aside, and the rocks came tumbling down. And when all the smoke cleared, Obito was crushed under a bolder, the left side of his body dripping with blood.

She could hear Kakashi swear and run to him. But there was something else happening inside of her. She could feel a sense of purpose mounting in the back of her mind, like an itch. But this wasn't real. It didn't matter is Sakura was a medical shinobi. She couldn't actually save Obito. This all happened years ago.

Obito spit blood, and Sakura was moving faster than she knew she could. "Obito!" She was at his side, kneeling and scanning over his body. Sakura knew then that this girl, Rin was also medic-nin. They were both healers. And Sakura was fighting to catch up in all the panic and confusion.

"I'm… the only one… who didn't… get you a present…" Obito was saying to Kakashi. But Sakura wasn't listening. She was trying to figure out why her hands were tingling. It was like the voice was trying to tell her something.

"This Sharingan of mine… please accept it." This was where Kakashi got his Sharingan; this was when he lost his best friend. "Rin… with your medical jutsu… please take out my sharingan… and implant it into Kakashi's left eye."

There were tears on her cheeks now, and her heart was breaking in so many ways, she didn't think she'd ever be whole again. But that wasn't her thought. That was the voice inside her. Now, Sakura realized this was her chance. This was her opportunity to synchronize the chakra from the sharingan to Kakashi's so that he could pull himself from this endless dimension.

"Kakashi, come over here so we can start quickly." Her hands were buzzing, and Sakura focused all her energy on finding the frequency of Kakashi's chakra. She touched his child-face and closed her eyes. She sought for a moment with her own chakra for the familiar feeling of his swirling power.

She'd always recognized it as somewhat unstable. It was always strangely out of phase with his movements. She'd always thought it was because part of him was existing in the future with the sharingan. But she saw now that it wasn't like that at all. There was a piece of him, the eye, that didn't fit. It was too large, too boisterous to fit with the rest of the slow moving, cold current of his chakra.

And it was always cut off, just on the edges, like he was frayed. This was what was keeping him from using the sharingan without fear of the danger it could cause. Sakura emptied her mind of everything except Kakashi.

She focused on his eyes, the multicolored, mismatched eyes that saved her countless times. She thought about his voice, and it was soothing when she was younger. She thought about his hands on her shoulders, and the way he'd always hide behind his orange book. She thought about the feel of his chakra rushing over her, and what it felt like to heal him.

Forgetting completely, that she'd never healed him before; she could feel the shift in the chakra. There was a wave through her mind, like a ripple from the two chakra's becoming harmonized. And when she opened her eyes, she was surprised to see the girl she had just been.

Rin's face looked back at her. She was older, and her hair was longer. But she still wore the bandages on her face, and her brown hair seemed darker. She looked about Sakura's age now.

"Thank you, Sakura. For doing what I couldn't." She spoke, softly and bowed at her.

"I don't understand. Are you part of Kakashi?" Sakura struggled to understand what this all meant.

"You could say that." She smiled, but it didn't seem to really reach her eyes. And out of the darkness that Sakura hadn't even realized was surrounding them, she read footsteps. She turned behind her and found Kakashi walking towards her.

"Kakashi!" She made a move towards him, but he held out his hand and she stopped.

"Thank you, Sakura. You saved me." He looked just like she remembered him. Mask and forehead protector tilted. He touched his face and she could see the corners of his mouth crinkle from behind the mask.

"But, I don't understand. Was it you telling me what to do?" She looked back over her shoulder at the women who was still standing, her hands clasped behind her back. "Or was it her?"

"Rin is a part of me, now. She has been for a long time." And his face seemed to melt into a heartbreaking expression. "Not as long as this eye, but long enough."

"What?"

"Have you even wondered how it is that I'm able to use the Mangekyou Sharingan?" He spoke evenly and walked past her, closer to the other women.

"You mean…" Sakura fought to understand what he was saying.

"I killed Rin." Rin smiled at this. And it almost seemed so out of place that Sakura wanted to yell at her. "But before she died, I took part of her with me. Now that you've balance my chakra with Obito's I'll finally be able to balance myself with what's left of Rin."

"So it was you who told me you loved Kakashi?" Sakura understood, but it still didn't make any sense. "How could you do that?" She watched as Kakashi turned, and stood right next to Rin in the darkness. They looked good together, right, somehow.

"It was a complicated decision." Rin spoke. "I bear no grudge to Kakashi for it." And she smiled again, but this time Sakura could _see_ that she loved Kakashi. She reached out a hand and Kakashi took it.

Together, they both began to fade away.

"Wait!" Sakura rushed towards them. "You can't leave me like this. Take me with you, you have to!" But they were already becoming more and more transparent. And Kakashi just shook his head.

"It's not your time yet. You still have something you need to do."


	18. Severed

**Title: **Sakura's Home  
** Author:** Winter Ashby (_rosweldrmr_)  
**Disclaimer: **Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto-sama.** I don't own anything** about Naruto, this is just for fun and if I did own Naruto I wouldn't have to right this, because I would have a team of very talented people turning this into a saga right now...  
**Rating: **K+  
**Warning**: this not only has spoilers until Manga 270ish, but it's kind of required for you to know what's going on. I use a lot of the Gaara mission, just made it AUish.  
**Summary: **Sakura was kicked out of Konoha five years ago but now has been asked to return… She will meet old friends and be faced with the consequences of her actions. Future AU Sakura centric. No pairings, and you need to be up to date in the manga and series.  
**Authors Notes: **Sorry about the confusion with the last chapter, hopefully this will answer those questions and bring about a whole set of new ones. **  
**

* * *

**Chapter 18 – Severed**

Kakashi opened his eyes. The sunlight that came through the opened window was obscured by someone. Kakashi winced and made a grunting noise.

"Kaka-sensei," Naruto spoke quietly as he took his place on the tiny bed, next to Kakashi. "You're back!" He announced enthusiastically and looked to Shizune for confirmation.

Shizune nodded and checked some of the IV's that were hooked to Kakashi's arms and legs. "I'm glad to see you're awake Kakashi-sempai." She smiled and began to remove some of the tubes. He nodded in her direction, but didn't speak.

Kakashi looked around the room. Ino and Chouji were sitting at the far end of the room, their heads bowed, speaking quietly. Neji was standing over Kakashi's couch. He was looking down at Sakura's body.

Naruto smiled broadly and tentatively gave Kakashi a pat on the arm. "It's good to have you back." His fox-whiskered-cheeks bulged as he smiled even brighter. It was Naruto's way of saying _Thank you_ to Kakashi for all that he did.

Kakashi couldn't speak yet, so he made another noise that was a cross between and grunt and a throat-clearing. Naruto didn't seem to mind that he could speak. He was happy all the same.

"Can you remember anything that happened?" Shizune leaned over her clipboard, a pen in hand and waited to see if he would speak.

Kakashi cleared his throat, and winced. His muscles were weak and frail. "I…" his voice was raspy and dry. "I don't remember…" he glanced around at the room again, his face falling as he did so. "What happened?" he croaked before his voice gave way into a fit of coughing.

Shizune shooed Naruto up so she could help Kakashi sit. She gave him something green to drink and waited for him to swallow. "You used you Mangekyou Sharingan against Itachi." She reminded him gently, her hand resting on his back. "You've been caught in another dimension for almost a month."

Kakashi's face was stone behind his mask. He didn't act as if he recalled or was surprised by what she said. "I see."

"Sakura saved you!" Naruto chimed in, practically giddy with joy. He was unable to hold back anymore.

"Sakura?" Kakashi asked, his face falling for the first time.

"I called her back to the village, and Tsunade-obaa-cha let her heal you." He bounded over to where her body lay, under Neji's strict supervision.

"How?" Kakashi asked as he tried to sit up.

"With my help." Ino spoke up for the first time. She stood, and Chouji held her hand. "I transferred her consciousness into your mind. She said she had to balance your Chakra."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed as he caught the sideways glance Ino gave in Naruto's direction. "And whose idea was that?" Kakashi sounded dangerous.

"Sakura's." Naruto supplied happily as he began to make his way over to the couch where Sakura lay.

"Naruto, no!" Kakashi warned him as Sakura's body lay helpless and unconscious.

Naruto turned. His eyes wide with surprise, Kakashi's voice had been so hard, and menacing. "Kaka-sensei, what…?" Naruto asked, still stunned in place.

Kakashi's hands balled into fists and he shot Shizune a menacing look. "You knew?" She didn't speak, but nodded slightly as she looked over the papers in her hands. "Ino, Chouji?" He let the question hang in the air. He didn't even bother to ask Neji, even if he hadn't known, with Byakugan, he could see it.

"Know what?" Naruto asked, his eyes flashing from one person in the room to the next, looking desperately for answers.

No one answered, but Kakashi still shook with rage as he fumblingly stood from a month in bed. His legs were wobbly and he teetered, but Shizune didn't dare reach out to steady him. "Neji, what's the situation?" His velvety voice was even and calm, despite the wild look in his eyes.

Neji made a few, swift hand seals and activated his white eyes. They peered into Kakashi and then back at Sakura. He shook his head. "Her consciousness is still intact, but the connection is growing weaker."

"Connection?" Naruto still stood in the middle of the room, still trying to understand. "What's going on? What's wrong with Sakura!?" Naruto's angry eyes turned on Ino and Chouji.

"Sakura knew what would happen." Chouji spoke up from behind Ino, but he wouldn't look at Naruto.

"And what does that mean?" Naruto's wrath came crashing down around them. His eyes slimmed and he sparked a flare of chakra into the room that made everyone's spine curl.

"She's not coming back, Naruto." Ino spoke quietly, near tears herself. "But, she told me to tell you that's she's sorry." And then the tears came, rolling thick and heavy down her cheeks. She stepped towards Naruto, her hand outstretched. "She said she's sorry she couldn't love you."

Naruto choked and his watery eyes burst with tears as well, hot and angry. His cheeks were red and he furiously wiped the tears away with the back of his hand. "No." He shook his head, dislodging the tears and sending them crashing to the floor. "No, no!" He bellowed and backed away from Ino.

"I'm sorry Naruto, but she's not coming back." Ino still tried to soothe him, without success.

"The hell she is!" Kakashi's voice rang out and Ino snapped her head around to look at him.

"She wanted me to tell you that you didn't lose her–"

"Don't!" Kakashi held up a hand, warning Ino not to finish. "Just don't."

Ino just shook her head and sobbed openly. "I'm sorry." She took one last look at Sakura's body, lying on the couch, and ran for the door. Chouji was only a half a step behind her.

As Chouji held the door to leave, he glanced back. "It was a Class-S mission from Tsunade. She had to." His eyes were soft as they glanced from Naruto to Kakashi, begging for understanding. "She didn't want to." And then, he was gone too. The door hung in the air for a moment, before it swung shut with a loud, echoing thud.

Shizune refused to look up as she too shuffled from the room bowing and ducking through the door.

Naruto let out a long, billowing cry and barreled through the room to Sakura's side. But Neji didn't move. He still watched her with his Byakugan. Naruto pushed him violently out of the way. "Just get out!" He reached down and ran a hand over her check, softly. Her pink hair lay against the old, tattered fabric of the couch. She was pale and smooth. And Naruto almost cracked in half with the grief of never getting to touch her like this before.

"No." Neji finally looked at him. His arms were crossed over his chest and refused to leave.

"Why are you still here?" Kakashi bit through gritted teeth.

"Sakura asked me to watch over her body during the process." He answered calmly.

"Well, the _process_ is over now, so you can leave. Unless you're planning to kill her again, for the honor of your clan, perhaps?" Kakashi spoke with chilling hate as he placed his own, frail, weak body between Neji and Sakura. "Get out of my home."

"She's suffered enough." Naruto begged, holding her hand and weeping.

"I'm inclined to agree with you." Neji added, leaning against the wall of the small apartment.

"What?" Kakashi asked, stunned.

"I think she's repaid her debt, don't you?" Neji quirked an eyebrow at the pair of them.

"I… I don't understand. What do you want?" Naruto asked, skeptically.

"I want to help."

"Why would _you_ want to help?" Naruto half-stood, still clutching her hand in his.

"Because," Neji said, pushing off from the wall, "she's got something that I want back."

* * *

Okay, so Kakashi is alive! Yay! But Sakura is still stuck inside his mind, and the connection to her body is fading, which means soon her body will be nothing but an empty shell. But what's this? Neji wants to help??? What does that mean? And what does Sakura have that Neji wants back? Tune in next time to find out.


	19. Hinata

**Title: **Sakura's Home  
** Author:** Winter Ashby (_rosweldrmr_)  
**Disclaimer: **Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto-sama.** I don't own anything** about Naruto, this is just for fun and if I did own Naruto I wouldn't have to right this, because I would have a team of very talented people turning this into a saga right now...  
**Rating: **K+  
**Warning**: this not only has spoilers until Manga 270ish, but it's kind of required for you to know what's going on. I use a lot of the Gaara mission, just made it AUish.  
**Summary: **Sakura was kicked out of Konoha five years ago but now has been asked to return… She will meet old friends and be faced with the consequences of her actions. Future AU Sakura centric. No pairings, and you need to be up to date in the manga and series.  
**Authors Notes: **Only 4 more chapters to go! Is everyone excited? I know I am. So here's the good news. I finished writing the whole fic, so updates should be very fast. I will upload a new chapter every Monday, starting with Chapter 20 this Monday (May 27, 2007), and so on until I get to the last chapter. So in nearly three weeks, This will be a COMPLETE fic. Thank you for all the comments and reviews, it really, really makes me whole world shine.

* * *

**Chapter 19 – Hinata **

Sakura spun around in the darkness that enveloped her. She balled her hands into fists and focused her chakra at the tips of her knuckles. If Kakashi wasn't going to absorb her, or whatever he'd done with Rin, then she would just have to absorb herself.

"Don't."

Sakura froze.

Her blood ran cold, and her hands began to shake. She knew that voice.

It belonged to the girl she'd killed.

Sakura turned wildly in the darkness, her arms swinging back and forth, groping at the blackness. "Hinata-chan?" She called and took a few steps in the direction she'd heard the voice. "Is that you?"

Sakura felt ridiculous twirling in circles, reaching at nothing, calling out the name of someone she knew was dead. But she did it all the same.

"Yes, it's me." And then, Hinata's silhouette was framed against a light in the distance. She looked just as she had the day she died. Still young, and beautiful. Her mystical white eyes reflected what little light existed in this dark, metaphysical world.

"Hinata-chan?" Sakura spoke in a broken whisper and took a step towards her.

"It's me, Sakura-chan." And then, she smiled. Not the coy, demure smile that she used to use so often. This was deep and made her cheeks crease with its intensity. Sakura almost gasped, it was the most beautiful smile she'd ever seen. It suited Hinata's face, the laugh lines indented in her pale, lovely skin.

"How-How is this possible?" She asked, not trusting herself to believe the strange sight in front of her.

"You don't believe I'm real?" Hinata asked. She sounded amused.

"You can't be. I-I…" She couldn't finish the thought.

"Yes, you killed me." And she did it again, she smiled. "But it's not _that_ easy to kill the heir of the Hyuuga Clan." She winked as Sakura, like it was all some big misunderstanding, an inside joke. And Sakura felt as though her insides would split down the middle with sorrow.

"I don't understand."

"I know." Hinata took a step towards her, her eyes clam and unsettling. They were like pools of purple-tinted milk, like a glass of milk that held violets that stained the white just a little. They were always soft and round, seeing more than they should. "That's why I'm here. There's much you don't know about me, or the Hyuuga's."

Hinata sat on a log that Sakura didn't even realize was there. But that's because they were no longer in the darkness, but sitting in a meadow, surrounded by deep, green trees. It looked like Konoha and Sakura's insides twisted again with pain. She would never see this place again. "You're here to tell me about _you_?"

Hinata laughed, and it was like a wind chime tinkling in the summer breeze. It appeared that death had turned Hinata into an angel, because that's the only way Sakura could think to describe her beauty. "No, silly. I'm here to tell you about _you_." She patted the log next to her and waited.

Sakura's feet hesitated in the cool grass. She could feel the blades tickle her ankles and she looked down, surprised to find that she was 13 again. Her long, red shirt hung to her knees and her black shorts slid over her undeveloped muscles as she sat. "_Me_?"

"Yes." Hinata adjusted her position, so she could look at Sakura as she spoke. "What do you know about Byakugan?"

"It's the Hyuuga Clan's Kekkei Genkai." Sakura answered automatically.

"Good. And what do you know about Juuken?" Hinata prodded, gently.

"It's the fighting style the Hyuuga Clan uses." Sakura was beginning to get exasperated. "What does this have to do with anything?" She asked, impatiently.

But Hinata only smiled again, and patted her hand. "I've watched you struggle for five years. I've watched you trying to find a balance, to live and preserve life. I've seen you heal people who should have been dead, and I've seen you train harder each day so that someday, you'd be able to save someone very important to you. I know you've fought against the darkness inside your. And I was there when you were caught in another dimension, trapped by Itachi's Mange Sharigan."

"What?" Sakura's eyes were wide. She didn't understand any of this. How could Hinata know what her life had been like? Was she going crazy? Was Hinata just a delusion her consciousness created as the connection to her body was slowly being severed?

"You still don't believe me." It wasn't a question. Hinata could _see_ that Sakura didn't believe she was real. "I'll prove it." She said determined, "What do you know about tenketsu?"

"They are the outlets for chakra in the person's body." Sakura still wasn't buying it. This Hinata hadn't said anything Sakura didn't already know. "Hyuuga's can see them with Byakugan."

"Yes, and through Juuken, Hyuuga's have learned how to control these outlets." Sakura nodded, but Hinata continued before she could speak. "But did you also know that some Hyuuga's actually have the ability to _control_ the flow of another person's chakra with the use of the tenkentsu's? Not just block the flow, but actually control where the chakra flows, and how much of it is used?"

"What?" Sakura blanched. That _was_ news to her.

"Yes, but there have only been a few in the history of the Hyuuga Clan to achieve this. Until very recently, it was only members of the Main Family. A secret passed down from one successor to the next, if they were able."

"Recently?"

"Neji-nii-san is the first member of the Brach Family to ever achieve this on his own, without any guidance." Hinata smiled, like she was proud of this accomplishment.

"So you can actually control chakra flow in another person?" Sakura was intrigued. This was certainly something she'd never heard about. "I didn't know that was even possible."

"Well, you wouldn't. You're not a Hyuuga." Hinata smiled again, and Sakura registered that in the dream-world, the sun was setting. The rich oranges and pinks made Hinata's pale skin nearly glow.

"I still don't see how this is possible. How do you exist _here_, wherever that is?" Sakura added quietly.

"You don't recognize your own mind?" Hinata asked, stunned. "Surely you realized that's where we are. Why else would we be sitting in the clearing where I died? You think _I'd _want to dwell on this place?" Hinata scoffed, and Sakura was completely taken back by how different she was. The Hinata she remembered was so quiet, and shy. But this Hinata seemed so much more confident.

"So, you're saying, my mind created his place." She looked around, still uncertain.

"Precisely." Hinata nodded, enthusiastically.

"So that makes you, what, my conscious?" Sakura joked and twisted her 13-year-old-fingers together.

"No, you don't need a conscious. You're inner self handles that just fine." She smiled again and stood, stretching her legs. "The longer you stay, the harder it will be for you."

"Stay where?"

"Right now your consciousness, and mine, is trapped inside of Kakashi-sensei. After you balanced his chakra, he woke up. And now, you are in danger of losing the connection to your body. With every minute that passes, your mind drifts farther and farther away." Sakura stood too, and the meadow disappeared replaced with the empty blackness from before.

"But I can't go back. Ino's jutsu was one-way."

"That may be." Hinata stood in a pool of light that come from somewhere Sakura couldn't see. "I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to die just yet."

"But you're already dead." Sakura protested but Hinata didn't seem the least bit upset by this.

"Only if you no longer exist." She corrected Sakura with infinite patience. Her voice was warm and soft, like it always was before. And it was almost enough to convince Sakura that she was real. Because Sakura couldn't remember Hinata's voice ever sounding so crisp and clear in her mind before.

"There's no way back to my body!"

"How many tenketsu do people normally have?" Hinata asked and Sakura groaned. She was growing weary of these questions.

"I don't know." She crossed her arms over her chest.

"Three hundred and sixty-one." Hinata answered without pause. "And, how many do you think your body has?"

"I don't know, Hinata-chan. Three hundred and sixty-one?"

"Wrong." And now, she smiled. Though, it wasn't the same as before. It was mischievous, playful. It looked out of place on Hinata's soft features. "You have three hundred and sixty-_two_."

* * *

WTF?? I know, I get too involved in the Naruto Lure. But, it's just so painfully interesting. Poor Sakura... what does this mean for her? How can she be saved? And coming up next... What does Neji want back!!!


	20. Redemption

**Title: **Sakura's Home  
** Author:** Winter Ashby (_rosweldrmr_)  
**Disclaimer: **Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto-sama.** I don't own anything** about Naruto, this is just for fun and if I did own Naruto I wouldn't have to right this, because I would have a team of very talented people turning this into a saga right now...  
**Rating: **K+  
**Warning**: this not only has spoilers until Manga 270ish, but it's kind of required for you to know what's going on. I use a lot of the Gaara mission, just made it AUish.  
**Summary: **Sakura was kicked out of Konoha five years ago but now has been asked to return… She will meet old friends and be faced with the consequences of her actions. Future AU Sakura centric. No pairings, and you need to be up to date in the manga and series.  
**Authors Notes: **As promised... the next installment of Sakura's Home... and we finally get to see what Neji wanted... one reviewer was correct! Yay for you (you'll know who). And, as ALSO promised, the next chapter will be uploaded in exactly ONE week. So don't worry about the next update, it's a set date. As always, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy (Alter Ego - I hope you like this chapter better. Sorry about the last one, I don't know what to tell you.)**  
**

* * *

**Chapter 20 – Redemption **

"What does she have that you want back?" Kakashi asked, still angry and pinning him with a furious glare.

"Hinata-sama." Neji was just as calm as ever, bored even.

"What?" Naruto finally let go of Sakura's hand and stood toe to toe with Neji.

"Sakura stole her–"

"That was five years ago, you just said so yourself. She's suffered enough." Naruto interrupted before Neji could even finish. But it didn't faze him; Neji just looked on, distractedly.

"Yes, I did say that. Because, it turns out that I was wrong about something." Neji pushed off from the wall and walked a little closer to Sakura.

Naruto growled, low, deep in his throat as a warning.

"I'm not going to hurt her. I told you, she's got something I want back." He pushed past Naruto, slowly and bent in front of Sakura's body.

"What were you wrong about?" Kakashi asked from next to him, still supporting himself with the couch.

"Hinata-sama was killed, but her consciousness is still alive." He was watching Sakura's face very closely with his Byakugan.

"What does _that_ mean?" Naruto really had no patience for this kind of cryptic messages.

"It means," Neji turned, and his expression was no longer bored, but angry, "that Hinata-sama's mind is still inside Sakura."

"Like Rin." Kakashi said to himself, quietly.

"What?" Naruto didn't even hear Kakashi. He was still trying to wrap his mind around what Neji had said. "That's insane. How can Hinata still be alive inside Sakura-chan?"

"She's not _alive_. But her consciousness is. Just like Sakura's consciousness is inside of Kakashi right now, so too is Hinata-sama's consciousness inside Sakura." Neji looked past Naruto, to Kakashi.

Kakashi nodded. "And how is it that you know this?"

"Because, I can see Hinata-sama's chakra. It's very distinct, especially because she is a Hyuuga, it's easy to recognize." Neji stood up now, and deactivated his Byakugan.

"Wait, I don't understand." Neji and Kakashi were too busy nodding and agreeing to notice Naruto's confused face. He didn't understand. "But you said that Sakura-chan's consciousness would eventually be severed, because she wasn't with her body or something, so how can Hinata still be there?" he was trying desperately to understand.

"The connection to Sakura's body will be severed. But as long as a consciousness had a mind to inhabit, it still exists. Like the other consciousness inside Kakashi-san." Neji glanced at him. "I never noticed it before. I'd only known you with the other chakras, and I wasn't familiar with the other person." It almost sounded like an apology, like he was sorry for not seeing it sooner.

"Well, Rin and Obito have been with me for quite a long time." Kakashi smiled weakly under his mask and sat on the armrest of the chair. "So what you're saying is that Hinata is still inside Sakura?" Neji nodded. "Okay, but how are we going to get them back to Sakura's body?"

Neji smiled too. But it looked strange on his face, like he was plotting something. "With Juuken."

"The Hyuuga fighting style?" Naruto asked, still upset because he didn't understand.

"I don't know why I never saw it before. I suppose I was too upset back then." Neji seemed to be talking to himself more so than the others. "I don't know how it happened, or that it was even possible. But somehow, Sakura managed to use it without even noticing."

"What are you talking about!?" Naruto bellowed, and he balled his hands into fists and shook with fury.

"Juuken is used to block a person's tenketsu. Those are the outlets for a person's chakra. Only a Hyuuga, with Byakugan can see them. There are three hundred and sixty-one tenkentsu's in a person's body. But sometimes, a Hyuuga can do more than just block the tenketsu. On very rare occasions, usually in the Main Family, a person can manipulate the chakra using the tenketsu. But Sakura is unique."

"How so?" Kakashi asked, still sitting on the armrest, sounding very much like none of this was news to him.

"Sakura doesn't have three hundred and sixty-one tenketsu; she has three hundred and sixty-two. That means she has one more tenketsu than everyone else in the world." Neji sounded amazed as he glanced back over at Sakura.

"How is that possible?" Kakashi stood up now and moved back to his bed. His head was pounding.

"I don't know. I didn't even know it was possible to create a tenketsu, let alone what that could do to the person. Normally, it would have disrupted the flow of chakra so entirely, that the person would never be able to use chakra again. It's like an extra hole in a bucket; all the chakra would leak out, and without Juuken, the person wouldn't be able to control it." Neji started to pace, his bottom lip was caught between his teeth as he turned, deep in thought.

"But Hinata knows how to use Juuken." Naruto pointed out.

"Hinata-sama, of course. Her consciousness must be controlling the extra tenketsu, so that Sakura would be able to still use her chakra. But why? Why would she want Sakura to use her forbidden jutsu? It's what killed her." Neji looked angry again, almost murderous, like the day Hinata died. His hands shook and he took another angry step in the opposite direction.

"Well, obviously, Hinata doesn't think it's all that bad, not if she's been helping Sakura-chan control it all these years." Naruto looked angry too, still defending Sakura even after everything that happened.

"Naruto, you're a genius." Kakashi declared from the bed, forgetting his headache and walked to the couch. "I always wondered, all these years, how it was possible for Sakura to absorb chakra and not have it affect her. With her jutsu, it would have been like bomb just waiting to explode, all that unreleased chakra that she stores in her body, even with her seal, it wouldn't have been enough to control it. And I thought for sure Sakura would kill someone else, even by accident. That kind of jutsu she developed is triggered by emotion. That's why the elders were so scared of it. Because even with Sakura's exact chakra control, she wouldn't be able to control the flow of chakra, only certain members of the Hyuuga Clan could do that. It must have been Hinata, all this time. She's been helping Sakura control her jutsu, so that no one else was hurt." Kakashi looked livelier than he had since he woke up. And even though he hadn't been out of bed in a month, he was itching to do something. He could feel his chakra crackle though his veins in anticipation.

This was just crazy enough to work.

"Hinata-sama has been helping her?" Neji looked stunned. Usually he was more guarded with his emotions. But the idea that Hinata would help her killer was almost too much. How could one person be that good?

"So," Naruto rubbed his eyes and glance between Neji and Kakashi, "let me get this straight. Hinata's consciousness is inside Sakura-chan's consciousness, which is inside Kakashi. And we need to get it back to her body before the connection is gone?" they both nodded. "But that's impossible." They nodded again. "except for Sakura-chan, because she has an extra outlet that Hinata can control?" they nodded again, Kakashi looked excited that Naruto was finally catching on. "But I don't understand how you can use this extra tenketsu to get Sakura-chan's mind back."

Neji sighed heavily. "Hinata-sama's not the only one who can control a person's tenketsu."

"But I thought you said it was rare." Naruto interjected.

"I did. But _I_ can also control chakra with the tenketsu. I developed my own style of Juuken; an adaptation of an ancient scroll is discovered in the Hyuuga shrine." Neji boasted and crossed his arms. "Which means," he continued, "I can use the extra tenketsu, where Sakura has stored all her chakra over these past five years, to draw her consciousness back to her body."

"And that's why you want to help Sakura-chan, because Hinata is still inside her?" Naruto raised a bright yellow eyebrow and waited.

"As a member of the Branch Family, it's my job to protect the Main Family," Neji didn't sound at all enthusiastic about saying it. "Which means that if Hinata-sama still exists, even inside another person, it's my job to make sure that I protect her," he sounded a little more convincing when he mentioned Hinata's name.

"So you're going to help save Sakura-chan by controlling her chakra flow with this extra tenketsu?" Naruto still looked skeptical.

"Not just that." Kakashi corrected him, "he's going to use Sakura's stored up chakra to draw her consciousness back to her body, like pulling a person through water with a rope."

Neji nodded. "Exactly, using all that chakra, I can pull her back to her body."

"With the extra tenketsu." Naruto looked just as clueless as ever, but nodded.

"Yes." Neji looked rather pleased with himself as he uncrossed his arms and stood over Sakura.

"And where is it, the extra tenketsu?" Kakashi asked, looking eager.

Neji walked over to Sakura side, Naruto didn't try to stop him. He bent over and looked at Sakua's face closely, and then reached out. He pointed at the very center of the winding seal on her temple, the place where five years ago, she only had a small green diamond. It was also the same place where, five years ago in a deserved meadow, another member of the Hyuuga Clan touched Sakura's temple in very much the same way. "Here." He said as he laid his finger against her warm skin.


	21. Harmonize

**Title: **Sakura's Home  
** Author:** Winter Ashby (_rosweldrmr_)  
**Disclaimer: **Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto-sama.** I don't own anything** about Naruto, this is just for fun and if I did own Naruto I wouldn't have to right this, because I would have a team of very talented people turning this into a saga right now...  
**Rating: **K+  
**Warning**: this not only has spoilers until Manga 270ish, but it's kind of required for you to know what's going on. I use a lot of the Gaara mission, just made it AUish.  
**Summary: **Sakura was kicked out of Konoha five years ago but now has been asked to return… She will meet old friends and be faced with the consequences of her actions. Future AU Sakura centric. No pairings, and you need to be up to date in the manga and series.  
**Authors Notes: **As promised, the next installment. We're almost at the end, aren't you excited? I know I am. **  
**

* * *

**Chapter 21 – Harmonize **

"Three hundred and sixty-two?" Sakura asked, still not understanding.

"Yes. You have one more than everyone else in the world." Hinata smiled and clasped her hands behind her back.

"How?" Sakura felt as though her head would explode with the implications of it all.

"I made it." Hinata smiled again and winked.

"You what?" Sakura took a step back in the darkness, but was careful to stay in the light.

"Just before I died." Hinata took a step forward. "Do you remember?" She asked, but before Sakura could respond, a movie started playing behind Hinata, against the darkness that surrounded them. Sakura knew the scene immediately, and shut her eyes.

"No, don't make me watch it again, please." Sakura pleaded and covered her ears.

Hinata gently pulled her hands away, and caught Sakura's chin in her hands. "This time, it will be different, because you already know that I'm not really gone." Sakura nodded, she could feel the tears well in her eyes. "And this time, you'll pay close attention."

Sakura nodded, and the tears spilled over onto her cheeks as she watched the same scene that she'd seen over and over again.

"_Sakura…" Hinata's soft, melodic voice was rippled with pain as it slipped from her bleed lips. But then there were no more words, but motion. Her slender hand was rising and trembling and reaching. It seemed like it took forever for her finger to rest lightly on Sakura's right temple, just at her diamond. She doesn't know what this action means, but she in humbled in the new presence of a dying smile from Hinata. _

Sakura doesn't know if it's because of the memory or not, but it's almost like she can _feel_ someone touching her seal. A warm, feather-soft touch to the extra chakra outlet Hinata created. And it makes it real, it makes the memory that she just saw replay like it was all happening again. She felt the blood on her hands and could feel the weight of Hinata's body in her arms.

She was crying rivers now. It was all too much, remembering, seeing Hinata as she was, still young and beautiful. "I'm sorry." She cried into her hands and shook from the weight of the guilt and grief.

"Did you see it?" Hinata asked gently.

"See what?" Sakura choked on her own tears and tried to stop crying, just long enough to think straight.

"The moment I created your extra tenketsu?"

Sakura nodded. It was when Hinata touched her face, just before she died. "Yes." She sobbed again at the memory of Hinata's face just then. It was resolute, and torn. But she was still beautiful. "I'm sorry." She wept some more into her fisted hands and hated herself more than she knew how to say. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She said it over and over again, begging for the girl in front of her to say something, to make it right, somehow. Sakura dropped to her knees now, in the darkness and wished that she could die.

"Shhh." Hinata whispered and stroked Sakura's hair. "It's alright. I don't blame you. I never blamed you. You were just doing what you thought was right. You were trying to save Sasuke-kun. I understand what that kind of love feels like. I would have done anything to save Naruto-kun, anything." Hinata made Sakura look at her. "And I'm glad that I've gotten to help you, these five years. Whether you knew it or not, I've been helping you control the life force you absorb. Without me, your jutsu would never have been complete. So I'm honored to be a part of something that will help so many people."

Sakura still cried, but she nodded, because that seemed like the right thing to do. "You've been helping me?"

"Yes, because I think you are capable of accomplishing great things." She smiled, but this time it didn't look happy. She looked sad and Sakura's heart broke. "I helped you because you needed it, and you let me. I did it to help preserve your life, and mine. But most of all, I did it because Naruto-kun loves you, and being a part of you makes me feel like maybe, he loves me too."

And then, Sakura could feel her heart break. Really tear down the middle and split wide open. She wanted to say something, anything, to make that look on Hinata's face disappear. She wanted Hinata to be loved, because she deserved it, because she was a good person, and Sakura was the one who stole Hinata's chance for love, two times over. "I'm sorry." It was feeble, and not good enough to express the sorrow she felt. But it was the only thing she could think to say.

"I need you to do something for me." Hinata looked down at her, with those huge off-white eyes and Sakura could only nod.

---

"What do we have to do?" Naruto asked as Neji watched Sakura with his Byakugan activated. He didn't respond for a minute, but stood quietly.

"You do nothing. I will activate her seal." He released the white-eyed jutsu and took a deep breath.

"You're sure this will work?" Kakashi still teetered on the cusp of the armrest.

"No." Neji didn't look at him, but instead performed a series of hand seals.

---

"I want you to tell Neji-nii-san that he's the successor of my clan now, and I expect him to be strong and compassionate."

"Strong, compassionate." Sakura repeated and nodded.

"And I need you to tell Shino-kun that he's become powerful and just and that I'm proud of him. " Hinata still looked down at her, gently ripping open Sakura's heart.

"Powerful, just, proud of him." She nodded again, locking the information inside her mind, safe for the journey at hand.

"And Kiba-kun," Hinata's voice broke a little and Sakura whimpered at the thought of him, "tell him that I expect him to be loyal and kind, just like he always was." She paused and seemed to be settling her nerves. "And tell him that I'm sorry, I'm sorry I couldn't love him back."

"Loyal, kind, and love." Sakura didn't trust herself to say anymore. It really was strange that two women, so different in every way could still be so similar. Kiba was Hinata's version of Sakura's Naruto. And Sakura understood then why Kiba hated her so much. Because, what would Naruto do if someone killed her?

"And Naruto," Hinata was crying too now. Huge tears slid down her cheeks and splashed onto Sakura's hands. "Please, tell Naruto that he was my inspiration. Tell him that I wouldn't have survived without him. He made me strong; he made me want to be a better shinobi, because he believed in me. Tell him 'thank you, thank you for everything he did for me'. Just tell him… tell him…" Hinata seemed to be at a loss for words.

"I'll tell him that you will always love him." Sakura answered, knowing exactly what she'd wanted to tell Sasuke if she'd gotten the chance.

"Yes, tell him that." Hinata nodded, because she understood what it was like to love someone who would never love you back.

"And tell everyone else, Kurenai-sensei, Otou-san, Onee-chan, everyone else that it's okay because I'm not really gone. I'll still be inside of you Sakura-chan. They'll all see it too, don't worry." She smiled, through her tears, and Sakura felt better. She liked that she wasn't going to be alone.

"I'll tell them" Sakura promised, and remembered everything she said, held it deep inside her heart so that she'd never forget the way Hinata looked right now.

"And now, it's time." Hinata kneeled and pulled Sakura into a mirrored position.

"Time?" Sakura blubbered as she looked Hinata in the eyes.

"Yes, it's time to harmonize our chakras." Hinata took a deep breath and her face looked determined.

"How do we do that?"

"Think about me, anything about me. Just focus on one thing about me." As Sakura looked at her, her long black hair and pale white skin, she couldn't imagine picking just one thing about her. She thought of Hinata's voice, of her hands, her fighting during the chuunin exams, Naruto. And as she thought about all these things, she realized what really made Hinata beautiful. It was the same thing that made Kakashi powerful, Neji mysterious, and Sasuke dangerous. It was her eyes. Those strange, almost-white, slightly-purple eyes that made Hinata's soft features look like an angel, a doll, a painting. It was her eyes that showed her compassion, and gave her strength. And as Sakura closed her eyes, the only thing she thought about, pictured perfectly in her mind, was Hinata's lovely eyes.

"Okay." Sakura spoke without her voice quivering. With Hinata's eyes against the back of her eyelids, looking so _sure_, there was nothing else Sakura could do but believe that everything was going to be okay, somehow.

"Now, I need you to concentrate and release your seal."

It shouldn't have been a surprise. Sakura should have known it was coming. But still, she wanted to open her eyes and ask Hinata why. But Sakura already knew, this was dangerous, and she was going to need all the chakra she'd built up over the past five years.

It wasn't an easy thing to do, to release all that pent-up chakra, to just let it flow and bubble to the surface. The chakra would serve as a tether, a line that would draw Sakura out of Kakashi's body and towards her own.

She knew the seals by heart. The boar, the horse, the rat, the ram, the dragon and the bird. Done in fast, rapid succession. She kept her eyes closed, still picturing Hinata's eyes and activated the releasing jutsu.

---

"How long will it take?" Naruto asked. His voice was softer than usual.

"I have no way of knowing that." Neji activated his Byakugan and stepped over to her. He knelt at the foot of the couch and moved a strand of hair that had fallen over her face.

"We're counting on you." Kakashi told him, without having to.

"I know." Neji nodded and placed two fingers against her temple.

---

And just then, Sakura could feel a light, feather-soft touch against her seal again. It was the same place that Hinata touched all those years ago, in a meadow full of dying light and falling rain. But Sakura pushed that thought aside, and focused only on Hinata's eyes and releasing the chakra all at once.

* * *

What will happen? Will it work? Can they possibly save Sakura? And if they do, what will happen to her? Stayed tuned 'till next time.


	22. Consequences

**Title: **Sakura's Home  
** Author:** Winter Ashby (_rosweldrmr_)  
**Disclaimer: **Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto-sama.** I don't own anything** about Naruto, this is just for fun and if I did own Naruto I wouldn't have to right this, because I would have a team of very talented people turning this into a saga right now...  
**Rating: **K+  
**Warning**: this not only has spoilers until Manga 270ish, but it's kind of required for you to know what's going on. I use a lot of the Gaara mission, just made it AUish.  
**Summary: **Sakura was kicked out of Konoha five years ago but now has been asked to return… She will meet old friends and be faced with the consequences of her actions. Future AU Sakura centric. No pairings, and you need to be up to date in the manga and series.  
**Authors Notes: **Almost the end folks. The climax. Will Sakura be able to pull it off? And if she's successful, what will be the consequences of her action? Read to find out. **  
**

* * *

**Chapter 22 – Consequences**

Sakura could feel the power flowing through her, tearing at her insides. Years of chakra flooded over her muscles, her organs, her arteries and sinew. The charka burned, like lightning flowing through her, electric and raw.

She could feel her hold beginning to slip. The pain was too much. She could taste blood, and even without a body, she could feel the searing of the chakra cooking her, cutting at her internal organs.

She'd seen what that much chakra could do to a person, touched it, healed it before. But to feel it herself, she felt lost, like she wanted to give up. Because it was too much, all too much, coming back to Konoha, seeing Shino and Kiba, facing the memorial stone and her old comrades.

She buckled from the sting of the chakra, and she wanted to cry out, to grasp at her sides and hold them together. But she had no body. She was nothing, she had nothing. And all she wanted to do was open her eyes and dissolve into the nothingness. She could drift forever, with no pain, no memories, cease to exist.

It would be fitting. It would be a proper end to her life, to just disappear. Hadn't she sworn that she would die, didn't she agree knowing that this was going to be her sacrifice, like Sasuke's. Her redemption was complete, Kakashi was alive.

And now, now it was her time to fade. She would become a name on the memorial stone, maybe, with time and Tsunade's help. And Kakashi would visit her and tell her name, etched along side the woman she killed, about his day and what trouble Naruto got into.

She could almost hear Kakashi's voice. The deep rich tones he'd use in the rain as he mourned another pupil lost. But he'd feel guilty, because she died to save him. And then he'd shy away from Naruto, because Kakashi would remind Naruto of what he'd lost.

Sakura hated that future. Not because she wasn't in it. That didn't matter so much, especially as the stabbing and ripping in her gut intensified. She hated this future because even though she was gone, she was still hurting the people she loved.

It was selfish, she'd always been selfish. She always chose what was best for her over what was best for her friends, her family, and her village. She chose her love for a man who would never accept her over everything and everyone.

She hated herself. She hated the pain and the burning, but she hated herself more. It was payback, karma, destiny. She curled in on herself, taking the pain, the hurt, the throbbing of dying even as she wasn't attached to her body.

She thought of Hinata. She imagined those same, haunting, mysterious, dangerous white eyes. And with a twinge of jealously, she realized that she wanted those eyes too.

Then, the pain was gone. And Sakura was weightless, nonexistent for a moment. It was a moment time didn't exist, and she wasn't real. It felt like eternity and no time at all. It wrapped around her, like a blanket, warm and cold at the same time. It was a cocoon, a vacuum, a bottomless pit that she was spiraling, twirling, falling into. She thought of Hinata, and those eyes she wished she had, and it was like she'd caught hold of a line, a rope, a string she didn't know was there.

She held tight, concentrated on the feeling of it, the shapeless contour of it. She thought of what it felt like to touch the line, and tug on it.

And then there was a pull, a slight yank at the threads of her mind. And Sakura felt like she was unraveling. But she didn't dare let the thought of Hinata's eyes fade from her mind. Instead, she held it, tightly, closely, bound it against the fabric of her mind and twisted it around her heart. She held it close, and clutched, grabbed, pulled herself along with it.

And it felt as though she was drifting, floating, drowning in a sea of thoughts and memories. But she never let Hinata's eyes waiver from her own. It was dark, and Sakura shivered against the chill that racked her spine, because she realized, she had one now.

Her took long, deep breathes and focused with all her energy. She thought she might have heard voices too, soft and speaking quickly. And they grew louder, more familiar, threatening her hold on Hinata's eyes.

So she ignored Kakashi and Naruto who spoke loudly and thought only of Hinata.

"What happened to the seal?"

"Does that mean it's over now?"

"Is she alright?"

"Is she back?"

"What happened?" Kakashi and Naruto asked only through breaks in the other's sentences.

"Everything is alright. She's fine." This time she heard Neji's voice, and Sakura lost her hold of Hinata.

"No!" She screamed and opened her eyes. She looked around the room frantically, because it was a room, not the darkness she'd been trapped in.

"Its okay, Sakura." Kakashi's arms were around her, hugging her from behind was enough to stop the shaking panic in her gut. And she gasped, pulled in thick, heavy air into her lungs and tried to remember Hinata's eyes. She clamped her eyes shut again. She didn't want to lose Hinata.

"Open your eyes." Neji ordered. She could hear the menacing sound in his voice.

"No." she insisted, like a child and tried to remember just the way Hinata looked.

"Open them!" Neji yelled and Kakashi's arms tightened around her.

"Neji!" Naruto moved. Sakura could hear him move across the wood floor. She could feel his chakra swirling in the room. It was comforting, but at the same time frightening.

"Naruto, no. It's okay." Sakura placated him, opening her eyes again. His angry chakra was sobering. It reminded her that this was real, and she was alive. It reminded her of Hinata, and Sakura knew she'd never really be alone again.

Naruto turned to look at her, and his mouth dropped open. He fell to his knees in front of the couch and Kakashi moved away, so he could look at her too.

"Your eyes." Naruto's face said it all.

"What happened to them?" Kakashi asked, sounding just as stunned as Naruto looked.

"Why, what's wrong with them?" Sakura asked, touching her face, as if she could _feel_ the change in her eyes.

"Your pupils are white." Neji informed her, he sounded aloof, like he used to.

"Really?" Sakura asked and used her eyes to look at everything in the room. "They don't feel white." She looked at Kakashi's face and almost expected it to be awash, like it was hidden behind a white veil. But it wasn't. It looked just the same as it always did. Naruto too.

"You can't _feel_ the difference." Neji commented from the shadows.

"They really are white." Naruto said, and leaned a little too close. Sakura pulled back, feeling self-conscious with everyone looking at her.

"Oh." Sakura said, and thought of Hinata. "This must be what she meant." Sakura said, remembering Hinata said about everyone else being able to see that Hinata was still inside her.

"She?" Naruto asked, gently, tentatively.

But before she could answer, the door to the apartment flew open. And through the bright sunlight coming in, Sakura could see a whole group of people framed against the light. They were all releasing so much chakra; she couldn't tell who was who. All she knew was that they were pissed.

"Haruno Sakura, you're under arrest." She recognized Shino's voice at once.

"I told what would happen if you lived, didn't I?" And almost before it registered that _that_ was Kiba's voice, a kunai was flying at her head.

Kakashi was moving faster than she remembered he could. His shoulder was impaled with the metal, blood running down his shirt. And Naruto was up too, standing between her and Kakashi. His hand was clasped around her wrist so hard, she almost cried out. He pulled her up and off the couch, and pressed himself against her front. Sakura tried to remember what was happening, but all she could think about was Hinata's face, broken and crumbling with tears when she said Kiba's name.

"You won't touch her." Naruto snarled and moved in perfect combination with Kakashi who circled around to the other side of the couch in the open space.

"I told you, if you lived, I'd kill you." Kiba screamed again, but Sakura couldn't see him.

"She used the forbidden jutsu!" Shino chimed in, and it was only then that she glanced back at Neji. He was still leaning against the wall, bored and aristocratic.

"Enough." He finally entreated as his eyes caught hers for a moment. And Sakura's heart leapt to her throat. They were the same eyes, but different too. Not as loving or soft as Hinata's were.

All eyes were on Neji. Sakura could feel all the chakra pointed at her shift in the air. It was like she could breathe again. "I didn't use it." She managed to squeak, now that she was free of the unbearable bloodlust.

"Neji?" Kiba asked. Sakura could see Kiba, just a sliver of him between Kakashi and Naruto. He moved into the room, silently as ever. He was masking his chakra. He was followed closely by Shino, Shikamaru, Hanabi, and strangely enough, Temari of the sand.

"It's true." Neji conceded and stepped away from the wall. "She didn't use the jutsu. I activated her seal, that's where all the chakra came from." She realized then, they must have been able to _feel_ the chakra being released from her seal.

"My seal?" She touched her face where the winding, twisting vine once was.

"Is gone." Neji finished without looking at her. "I needed the chakra to pull your consciousness back."

"Why?" Shino asked, and Sakura could feel his chakra quiver with rage. "Why would you help her? After what she did?"

"Take a look for yourself." Neji made a sweeping gesture with his hand and motioned at Sakura. "Let them see." He spoke to Kakashi and Naruto who didn't move immediately. But slowly, they parted, though Naruto kept her hand on her wrist. And she could see them all now. There were more people at the door. Shizune, Kurenai, Asuma, and Tsunade. She could also see more ANBU-clad legs in the corners of the door. But as she looked at them, there was a collected gasp taken in the tiny room.

"How is that possible?" Kiba asked, his control of his chakra faltering enough for Sakura to feel the wave of grief that he released.

"Tell them." Kakashi said, gently, like he used to when he was her teacher.

"Hinata-chan–"

There was an outbreak of hissing and growling in the room at the mention of the name. But the sight of her white pupils must have been enough to keep them from attacking.

Sakura didn't know where to begin, or how to explain. How do you tell someone that there's been another person existing inside you? A person you killed?

And then she thought of the promise Hinata made Sakura make before they harmonized. And Sakura realized now why she'd done it. It was a souvenir, a penance, a redemption gift. And Sakura knew exactly what to tell them all. "Hinata-chan had a message for you." She spoke to the room at large. "For all of you."

* * *

Finally, in the last chapter of 'Sakura's Home' what will everyone do when Sakura tells that what Hinata had to say? And what do her new eyes mean for her fate? Next and last installment in one week.


	23. Sakura's Home

**Title: **Sakura's Home  
** Author:** Winter Ashby (_rosweldrmr_)  
**Disclaimer: **Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto-sama.** I don't own anything** about Naruto, this is just for fun and if I did own Naruto I wouldn't have to right this, because I would have a team of very talented people turning this into a saga right now...  
**Rating: **K+  
**Warning**: this not only has spoilers until Manga 270ish, but it's kind of required for you to know what's going on. I use a lot of the Gaara mission, just made it AUish.  
**Summary: **Sakura was kicked out of Konoha five years ago but now has been asked to return… She will meet old friends and be faced with the consequences of her actions. Future AU Sakura centric. No pairings, and you need to be up to date in the manga and series.  
**Authors Notes: **Well, this is it. The end. It's been a great journey, and I'm so, so thankful for everyone who's been there since the beginning. There will be more thanks at the end, I don't want to keep you waiting. So, without further ado, I give you the last chapter of Sakura's Home. **  
**

* * *

Chapter 23 – Sakura's Home

Sakura stood in front of the memorial stone. It shone in the sunlight, and felt sensitive against her white pupils.

So much had changed in a month; Sakura didn't even feel like the same person anymore. But she knew she wasn't the same. She was a whole different person. After she'd told everyone Hinata's last words, she could feel a shift inside her. It was like she was at peace, balanced for the first time in five years.

Neji reacted the same way you'd expect him to. He nodded and 'humpfed' and slunk back into the shadows. Shino dropped the kunai he was holding and leaned against one the walls, his head in his hands. He just kept repeating 'proud of me' over and over under his breath.

And Kiba, Kiba cried. The barriers around his chakra tumbled, and Sakura could feel the power of his sorrow, and unrequited love. He dropped to his knees and wept into his hands. She wanted to move towards him, or hug him. But she didn't.

Instead, she turned to everyone in the room and told them what Hinata said. She looked right at Hanabi, and Kurenai, and everyone else and told them that Hinata was still inside her. Hanabi, who'd grown powerful and just as beautiful as her older sister let one tear slide down her cheek before she disappeared. Sakura knew the entire Hyuuga Clan who soon know too.

And finally, Sakura turned to Naruto. He looked at her strangely, like he couldn't understood why she was going to speak to him last. But everyone else in the room knew. Everyone in the village knew about shy-little-Hinata and her crush on Naruto. And if he was really honest with himself, Sakura knew that he was aware of it too.

Sakura told him, in broken sobs, what Hinata said. And she watched him; the face he hid, the soft, loving face that he pretended was only for her, she watched it seep through as she told him about Hinata. And he cried too, because Sakura thought he might have loved her all along. But because he felt like he was betraying Sakura, or something stupid like that, he never told Hinata, he never took the chance. And she watched him break because of it.

And now, everything was different. Sakura lost her winding seal, and was left with just a small diamond on her right temple, like she had all those years ago. She had white pupils, and even though she wasn't entirely sure what that meant, she knew it was an honor.

Today she stood, the entire village stood, in front of the memorial stone, waiting for the white paper to be pealed away at the base. Today, there was a new name going to be added to the stone.

Uchiha Sasuke.

His name would be engraved there, for her, and Naruto, and everyone else he protected when he used his last amount of chakra to save the future Hokage. Even though he was a missing-nin for ten years, in the end, he was still loyal to his home. To Konoha. And today, he would be honored because of the sacrifice he made in battle, defending his country.

As they waited for the ceremony to begin, Sakura looked around at all the people she used to know. They have changed, grown as people and as shinobi. And it almost felt as though Konoha it's self had come alive and changed along with everyone else. There were new buildings and stores, new neighborhoods of apartments and open markets that littered the streets with the smell of food venders and exotic spices. But the change in the people is what struck her the most.

Ino and Chouji stood together, holding hands, and Sakura remembered a time when Ino was her rival for Sasuke. Just another example of how things have changed with time and distance. Chouji moved his other hand, almost unconsciously to touch Ino's belly, and they smiled. Sakura felt a bittersweet kind of happiness sweep through her as she watched the life she used to dream of with Sasuke unfold between Ino and Chouji.

Kurenai stood with a small boy at her side. He had red eyes and dark brown hair. She stood alone in love. Asuma's name was also on the memorial stone. He was killed four years ago when they tried to stop Orochimaru from taking over Sasuke's body the first time. Orochimaru didn't get a chance to try it a second.

Because, as it turned out, from an intelligence report that Tsunade forwarded to her, Sasuke killed Orochimaru. Before he set off to fight Itachi, he killed the snake who wanted to destroy him and steal his mysterious eyes. Sakura suspected that had a lot to do with why his name was being added.

Tsunade stood close to Jiyara. They grieved silently the loss of a teammate. And even though Sakura hated Orochimaru for all the pain he caused, she understood why they mourned.

Shizune was only a foot behind them, hands clasped and head bowed. And Sakura noticed the way Genma stood closely behind her, careful not to touch. She recognized the stance, because it's the way Hinata used to gravitate around Naruto.

In an almost-strange twist, Shikamaru and Temari stood together, next to Kurenai and her son. It was something Sakura never imagined would happen. When they were young, she thought maybe, _maybe_, but Temari was from another country so she thought it would never turn into much. But somehow, they've made it work. She can tell, because Temari looped her pinky with his at their sides, a silent, small gesture that spoke volumes. And Kurenai's son looked up at Shikamaru like he was the best thing the boy had ever seen. He looked a lot like Asuma. She wondered what his name was.

Next to them stood Anko and Kotetsu, who even Sakura knew when she was younger were in love. Anko looked as fierce as ever, still daring and bold, which perfectly complimented Kotetsu's quiet demeanor.

Gai was only a few feet behind them, looking more somber than Sakura was used to. But there was a purple-haired woman next to him that Sakura found vaguely familiar.

Naruto was to her right, his hand in hers, silently, supportive as ever. But since she told him what Hinata said, she saw him pull away, tether the furtive glances he used to give her. And she thought it's because maybe he was finally realizing that he wasn't in love with her, but loved her. And therein lay all the difference.

Kakashi was behind her. He wore a new mask today, black, and Sakura almost wished that it would rain, for him. Because she knew it was easier for him to grieve in the rain. Sasuke wasn't the only name he watched on the stone. Now, he would have one more reason to come everyday.

Shino was just behind them. He was alone. And Sakura thought maybe he loved Hinata too. But she'd never ask him. And when his eyes met hers, he didn't look away. But she could see the wave of grief that washed over him every time he looked at her. She hoped one day he'd be able to look at her without seeing what she took from him, but if he couldn't, Sakura knew why. It was the same reason she felt a pang of regret whenever she sensed Naruto's new convoluted chakra patterns, all jumbled and hodgepodge with the chakra remains of the man she loved. It was hard to be around him and be reminded of what she lost. But that could never keep her away from Naruto.

Across from her, Lee stood with his strong arms firmly around Ten-Ten. And Sakura was only a little surprised. She always thought Neji and Ten-Ten were better suited. But when she saw them walk into the small clearing this morning, and the smile that played across Ten-Ten's lips, she understood what she saw in Lee.

Sakura caught Kiba's eye from across the circle, and he smiled and looked away, sheepishly. Ever since she woke up, with half of Hinata's eyes, and heard what she had to say, he hadn't been able to really look her in the eyes. Two weeks ago, she ran into him in the market place, holding hands with Hanabi.It wasn't until then that Sakura noticed the matching, dull metal rings they both wore. Hanabi had one that hung from a chain around her neck and glinted silently in the sunlight. Kiba apologized to Sakura over and over, and she wondered who he really wanted to apologize to. She told him not to, but she knew, when he looked at her, he saw the woman he used to love. And the fact that it was Hinata's little sister just made it more difficult. But he'd eventually get over it. And Sakura was happy for them, that they were able to move on, and find love.

Neji stood to Sakura's left, flanked by Haishi and Hanabi. It was the first time Sakura had seen Hinata's father since the council of Hyuuga elders met a three weeks ago and made her a partial member of their clan. He was careful to avoid her eye now as Sakura scaned the circle of people. She didn't think he'd ever really be able to forgive her for what she took from him.

She has seen Neji more often. Since her declaration of Hinata's last wish, Neji was officially instated as the next Hyuuga Heir. And as the appointed heir, the first thing he did was dissolve the Main and Branch families into one, which was good. Because if they were still separated, Sakura would now exist somewhere are the edges of that. She was a Hyuuga now, like Kakashi was the last Uchiha. And Neji was now her sempai, which was strange for Sakura. But he insisted that she had to learn Juuken. It was part of her duty as a member of the Hyuuga clan to help protect the secrets of the Byakugan.

She has never been in a clan before. Her family was always enough for her. But now that she came back, she learned of her parent's death from the flu. They lived out past the edge of town, farming, trying to make a living, shamed by their only daughter's extradition from their country. And Sakura felt tightness in her chest at the thought that she'd never get to see them again. But even more so, because if she had still been here, kinjutsu or not, she probably would have been able to save them.

But Naruto squeezed her hand, like he knew how she felt, and it brings her back. Even as Tsunade presides, and gave a small speech about Sasuke, and what he did for the village, Sakura could feel the tears trickle down her face. She'd miss him, because she loved him and the man she's glad he became, in spite of all the bad decisions he made.

Likewise, the woman Sakura has become, in spite of all the bad decisions she's made, has lead her to this. She was reinstated as a medic and her disciplinary hearing was set for a few weeks to discuss the fate of her kinjutsu. Part of her still wanted to use it, part of her wished she never tried to develop it in the first place. But Tsunade seemed hopeful that because of Sakura's unique new abilities, granted by the Byakugan, the council will see fit to at least give her a chance to prove she could control it. After all, if she were to learn to combine her exact chakra control, harnessing life force technique, and seeing a person's chakra circulatory system, she would be the greatest Medic-nin in the history of Konoha.

She still had a long way to go before she could control it properly though. It was take a lot of hard work and training. She was new to the ways of the Byakugan, and it was exhausting to train everyday. Neji was a big help, but she was much older than typical Byakugan beginners, and there was the added difficulty that her eyes didn't seem to work the same way other Hyuuga's did. She had no budging veins hear her face; instead, the chakra came directly from her extra tenketsu on her temple, hidden behind the small green diamond. Her Byakugan wasn't as powerful as Neji's either. But still, being able to see temperature, chakra pathways, and long range distances through objects all made for a very different life.

Sakura was adjusting, slowly, little by little. She rented an apartment, not too far from Kakashi. They had lunch sometimes, Naruto would join them. Kakashi was training him again. So that he'd be able to take advantage of the four different kinds of chakra he now possessed. Wind from his own, lightning and fire from Sasuke, and earth from Chiyo. Sakura knew that someday, he would become Hokage. And the thought that she might have missed it made her heart ache in a way that made her think there were two hearts in her chest torn open. He would become great, and strong, and a leader to his people. And Sakura was filled with infinite pride just knowing that she'd be there to see him rise to power.

She was still under the watchful eyes of the village elders, and the Hyuuga Clan. She would still have to spend the rest of her life trying to live up to the memory of Sasuke's last sacrifice. And as her hand fit into Naruto's, holding her tight, grounding her, she knew that even though it wasn't the ways she planned it, it wasn't what she dreamed, it was a life. It was her life, one that she nearly lost, gave up, squandered away on an adolescent dream of obtaining power. In that regard, she was no different than a monster like Orochimaru.

But now she followed after Sasuke's example while she mourned him, and loved him, and missed him all once. The cold boy who ignored her, the chilling shinobi with so much power he defeated a Sannin. The whole village, it looked like, was gathered around to listen to the story of the last Uchiha prince who went to his grave a hero, because he gave his life to bring back another hidden leaf. And from the turnout of the crowd today, it looked as though the village had forgiven him for his betrayal so long ago. This gave Sakura hope, hope that one day they would be able to forgive her as well.

She turned, to look at Kakashi, who she knew would never be okay. And it made it all a little easier to know that she wasnt the only one. Naruto would never be okay, Neji and Hanabi would never be okay, and Shino and Kiba would never be okay. And Sakura mourned the other name engraved on the black stone, whose eyes she stole, and life she now inhabited. And sometimes, just sometimes, Sakura imagined she would hear another voice inside her when her inner self got too excited. It was a soft voice that made her think of the full moon, and violent-stained milk.

And as the ceremony draws to a close, and the warm Konoha breeze picks up her pink hair and moves it through the air, accentuating her white pupils and revealing the small green diamond on the side of her face, she smiles, because Sakura's home.

The End

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First of all, I want to thank SpiritualEnergy, without whom I would not have gotten my lazy but into gear and gotten past chapter 7. Nor would I have posted this at all. 

Thank you to every single one of my reviewers. I love you, I cherish you, I wish this could go on forever. And, I just wanted to thank everyone who read this, and enjoyed it, and yes - even those of you who critiqued the fan-japanese out of it. This is a legacy to all the fans, everyone who put this on alert, or reviewed, or even just read it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

And, up next, I tackle the Kenshin fandom and the lovely world of Sanosuke & Kaoru!


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